Home Networking Questions

[millerx]

Okay, like most everyone else here I have found the The Huddle to be a limitless source of helpful information. Therefore I would like to see what your feelings are for Home Networking. My parents are in the process of having a new house build for them as they retire. Being that the house they are moving from was 40 yrs old, it was outdated to say the least. They want this house to be modern with all the technical advantages that can be provided in today's homes. One of these choices is home networking.

 

The builder is telling them that they probably don't need to wire a house with Cat 5 because of the advancements with wireless networks. Basically he thinks it would be a waste of money. However, I told them they should look into getting the Cat 5 wiring done now (before drywall) and set themselves up that way. They are looking at basically 6 runs (less than 500ft) of Cat 5 for the TV's to be networked and for at least one Desktop (possibly two). Why not have a mixed environment of wired and wireless? Am I off base or out of touch? Is the builder right to say that wireless is where it's at and that wired is just a waste of money?

 

Also, if they run the wire for them I can do the rest and get my parents hooked up to the router. I would think it should be cheap to run this wiring before drywall is hung so if they are to go with wired as well, what should that cost to install?

Edited June 29, 2010 by millerx

[tazinib1]

I have shot movies/tv shows in some houses in the LA area that would blow your mind. Absolutely have your house wired with dual wired/wireless capability. The amount of information that can be sent via wireless pales in comparison to a hard line. The builder should stick to building and let the tech geeks take over.

[Ursa Majoris]

I have shot movies/tv shows in some houses in the LA area that would blow your mind. Absolutely have your house wired with dual wired/wireless capability. The amount of information that can be sent via wireless pales in comparison to a hard line. The builder should stick to building and let the tech geeks take over.

Yeah, fine, but how much are these folks actually sending? 802.11N is pretty close to cat 5 speed. Why bother with wires unless you're running a business and / or a data center? Home users are fine with wireless assuming they aren't going to have many machines using it all at once.

[10g_DBA]

I have shot movies/tv shows in some houses in the LA area that would blow your mind. Absolutely have your house wired with dual wired/wireless capability. The amount of information that can be sent via wireless pales in comparison to a hard line. The builder should stick to building and let the tech geeks take over.

+1

 

Wired all the way. Use Cat 6 (or at a min Cat 5e) to enable long runs for gigabit ethernet. Phone can be carried on a RJ 45 jack, too. I'd run a min of two lines to each room and four lines to the office and media room.

[Ursa Majoris]

+1

 

Wired all the way. Use Cat 6 (or at a min Cat 5e) to enable long runs for gigabit ethernet. Phone can be carried on a RJ 45 jack, too. I'd run a min of two lines to each room and four lines to the office and media room.

What for? It's a couple of seniors, not NASA.

[tosberg34]

If you're parents are going to download a TON of porn, I'd say get the house wired. Otherwise, what Ursa said makes more sense. Wireless is the way to go (802.11n).

[whoopazz]

What for? It's a couple of seniors, not NASA.

Future generations or resale

[frankf]

We are in the process of building a house and we wired it. Now is the best time to do it, you don't want them changing their minds once the drywall is up.

[millerx]

Thanks for all the input so far. Sounds like the arguments I've been having in my head as well. One thing I do question about Wireless is having the adapters for TV's and such. Each one will need a dongle or wireless adapter which can add up cost also, no?

['canes2004]

When "they" finally tell us that all those wireless signals passing through our bodies all day and night cause brain tumors and other abnormalities, everyone will be running in droves to go back to a hard line operating system(s). Might as well have them all set up now.

[10g_DBA]

What for? It's a couple of seniors, not NASA.

Flash content at AARP.com

[ABearWithFurniture]

Wireless adapters are fairly cheap and very easy to set up since most TVs, electronics, etc...have a USB port built into them now. Cabling an entire house with Cat6 for an elderly couple just to receive their internet connection is fairly insane, and the future resale value isn't going to go up drastically because the house is wired to the teeth...

[Kid Cid]

The only thing I could possibly think of would be if streaming video content overwhelmed the wireless bandwidth. Otherwise, wired is mucho overkill.

[Caveman_Nick]

IMO, when building a house put the wires in while you can. And use better than cat5. Category 6A if you can get someone to install it.

 

Wired is always better than wireless if it's available. Better speed and better "environmentally" in that there is less signal running around you. Wired will definitely be a selling point down the line.

[Gonkis]

I had the builder wire 4 bedrooms and an office when my home was built in 2001 with Cat 5 (or maybe 5E, don't remember) and it was a couple hundred dollar line item. Peanuts... in comparison... my wife spent $3k on an effin chandelier in the foyer.

 

It is a no brainer. Kids Xbox and desktops are wired at 100MB, laptop crawls at 54 or so. It makes it so much easier to share pinters and whatever else you want without always depending on the wireless. Ironically, I am the only house that did it on the cul-de-sac and the others are always complaining of signal strength, etc. I wouldn't build or buy a house without now.