How To Install Ethernet Cable In House
Networking Your Abode: Ethernet
Installing ethernet in your abode for a high speed home network
I covered why you should build a solid home network and why ethernet is important in "Networking Your Habitation: How and Why". In short; yous can get higher local speeds for local file and video streaming (similar over the air HD TV streamed to every Idiot box in the firm), and become a lot of your in-home traffic off the wifi network, clearing upwards bandwidth for all home and home part users. Y'all tin also utilise stable ethernet lines for important home office or home school connections.
In this article, I'thou going to get into the wired network side of things. Where possible, I'thou going to brand several ethernet jacks available in every room of the house. Is that overkill? Almost certainly. Since I accept more than flexibility now while I'thousand finishing my basement, my programme is to spend the time and money to set it upwards correctly in one go rather than trying to add more connections later on.
Reference list of equipment in this commodity:
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- Low voltage mounting brackets
- Utility razor
- one thousand anxiety of True cat six riser cable
- Single, double, or quad jack wall plates
- Keystone modular inserts
- Fish tape
- Network repair tools
- 24 port patch panel
- Cost for this portion of the projection: $200 to $300
Getting Started
The offset step is deciding where you want ethernet jacks in the house. If y'all don't want any or can't modify your walls, you may notwithstanding find this useful every bit a discussion of how to build your own lengths of ethernet cables to run from your router to your switch and other machines in the vicinity.
In my house, I'k wiring upwardly iii bedrooms, our living room, and my attic (where the HD antenna is). In two of the bedrooms, I'd like a unmarried plug on each wall that could reasonably accommodate a desk or a smart Idiot box. In the bedroom nosotros're using as a dedicated office, I'm putting in quad jacks on two walls. Where our living room Boob tube is, I'm as well installing a quad jack.
Why quad jacks? Where I know I'm going to accept several devices plugged in, I would rather only plug them into the wall than have to use some other switch. In the office, I take a desktop, a laptop for work, and a smart TV on the wall. In the living room, we have a smart TV, an access bespeak using a wired backhaul (more than on that in the Wi-Fi article), and a game system.
And so that'southward two bedrooms with two jacks, an function with 8 jacks (one quad on each wall), a living room with 4 jacks, and an attic with one jack. That totals seventeen cables. In that location are actually a couple more that came pre-installed in the house in odd places, so my total ends up beingness near twenty jacks in the house. Again, this is definitely overkill, merely if I practice it correct, I shouldn't accept to upgrade again for decades.
Which Cable Do I become? Ethernet Categories.
Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6, Cat 6e, True cat 6a, Cat 7. In that location are many specifications to cull from. They differ in the data speeds they can attain, their price, and their flexibility (which matters when y'all're routing them through a wall).
Mbps is a common mensurate of speed. Information technology stands for Megabits per second, and is often confused with Megabytes. Nosotros talk about storage and file sizes in Megabytes and Gigabytes, merely speed in Megabits and Gigabits. A Megabyte would be eight Megabits (and a Gigabyte would be 8 Gigabits). If you have a file that is 100 Megabytes in size, and a 100 Mbps speed network, information technology would take yous approximately viii seconds to transfer that file.
Cat v is obsolete now. It tin only support 100 Mbps. Don't buy this one.
Cat 5e is still a very popular selection as it's inexpensive, tin support upward to 1 Gbps (1000 Mbps) and is very flexible.
Cat 6 is the side by side step upwardly in price and speed. It can as well support i Gbps, just has the adequacy to reach ten Gbps for "brusque" distances of around 30 meters (different types will vary their definition of "short" to be betwixt 30 and 55 meters). If you're using information technology in a house, my guess is you don't accept a single cablevision that will be longer than that, so it'south finer a 10 Gbps capable cable.
True cat 6e isn't an "official" category, just was marketed for a while so you may notwithstanding encounter it around. It's officially rated at True cat 6 speeds, but usually has some improvements in shielding or twist rates that might go far slightly better (but no guarantee). You won't likely run across this name whatever more unless you're reusing old cabling.
Cat 6a is the official beefing up of Cat 6. Information technology can support 10 Gbps up to 100 meters and is far ameliorate shielded than True cat 6, but information technology'southward also far less flexible, making information technology harder to route through walls.
Cat seven is the current latest and greatest (in that location are others in the works) and claims 40 to 100 Gbps for short distances. It's very expensive and very potent, and too requires special grounding and special connectors.
So what should you get? Near people should become Cat 6 cable. Having a one Gbps network is great, and when prices come down for 10 Gbps switches and routers, you lot only have to upgrade those to jump to a 10 Gbps network speed. Cat 6a won't get most home users any improvement over True cat half-dozen because y'all aren't making cables longer than 100 anxiety and y'all aren't running them side by side to other high frequency RF lines similar a datacenter might.
If yous're budget minded, Cat 5e is still an ok pick, merely being but slightly cheaper than True cat six and being stuck at 1G, I would advise most people to skip it unless they're willing to re-run wires in five or x years.
Standard A or B Wiring
Another topic that bears a little discussion is which standard to use to wire your cables. The cheapest way to build out your ethernet network is to brand your own cables, and there are two ways to wire the ends: "A" configuration and "B" configuration. Which y'all apply really makes well-nigh no divergence equally long equally you use the same configuration on both ends of every cable. EG: If you lot have one cable that has two "A" ends and another cable that has ii "B" ends, that'south perfectly fine and both will work in your network. If yous take a cable with i "A" terminate and one "B" end, that'due south actually a crossover cable and it may not piece of work depending what you plug it in to.
So what's the difference? There are 8 different wires in every ethernet cable. Standard "A" has them laid out in the plug in one style and standard "B" has them laid out in the plug in a slightly dissimilar way. If yous wire them both the same manner, though, the colour of the wire doesn't matter to the device using information technology, and then information technology makes no difference in your network.
In the photo in a higher place, note the "A" and "B" labels on these keystone jacks. It shows how to wire a jack with either standard. On both "A" and "B", the brown, brown striped, bluish, and blue striped wires remain the same. The dark-green and orange pairs are reversed depending on which standard you lot're using.
With that being said, if you're in the US or using U.s. based equipment, yous'll probably find the "B" is the de-facto standard. The color diagrams on plugs, keystone jacks, patch panels, and everything else will probably be the "B" configuration. And so I wired everything that way.
Building the Wall Jack
This is actually fairly simple. I had some electrical boxes already in place (and you'll run across that in pictures), but using a depression voltage mounting subclass is the manner to go, and this video has a great view of how to do it:
And here'southward a photo of ane I did in my own wall, showing it's really just a band clamped to the drywall rather than a whole electric box. These meet building code regulations for depression voltage cables where I live, merely you will want to check your local housing codes to make certain information technology's allowed where you lot are.
Here you'll need the mounting brackets and a utility razor. A keyhole saw or drywall saw can help brand the job easier, but isn't required.
In essence, you'll be marking a rectangular opening, cutting it into the wall, then putting the mounting bracket in the pigsty and tightening it. That creates something a simple faceplate (like an electrical switch's faceplate) tin can attach to. For ethernet cable, I don't know of anywhere that requires fully enclosed electrical boxes, so these are a great add-on.
Once you have the mounting subclass in place, you lot need single, double, or quad jack wall plates with "keystone" modular inserts. This is by far the near cost effective manner of building them that I've seen and gives you the capability to move the jacks around once yous've installed them.
Running Cablevision
This is probably the hardest function. Let's walk through the process for a simple example.
The cable itself is called "riser" cablevision, and comes in a big box with a pigsty and then you can continuously pull cablevision out of a hole in the side. I bought 1000 feet of Cat 6 riser for my job, which is but $100. This is the cheapest I found high quality cablevision available to transport, and I've tested it at 1 Gbps speeds (I don't have whatever 10 Gbps connections to test with yet).
In my business firm, I had an office wall which already had an ethernet jack in it. This is where I'll be putting in a new quad jack.
Since the hole was already there, what I had to practice was use some fiberglass fish tape to come up up through the hole and into the electrical box. The fish record I am showing is a single rod, but I don't see ones quite like information technology any more, and this is the best rated fish tape I encounter on Amazon today.
Information technology'southward more difficult to practise when the electrical box is a whole box instead of the depression voltage mounting bracket I mentioned in a higher place. I used a Dremel to cut out chunks of the electrical box so feeding was easier, but information technology was still more difficult this way.
If you lot don't already have a hole through the framing into your basement or cranium, just measure very carefully and drill one. If that makes you sweat bullets, then rent an electrician to do a "wire drop". Most electricians won't want to have anything to practise with ethernet (or will hilariously overcharge for information technology), but if you lot tell them you lot just desire them to put the low voltage bracket in the wall and drib a cable between floors without connecting it, it won't exist very expensive. Especially if you lot provide the materials.
With the fish tape in place, I gathered up 3 more than Cat 6 cables and duct taped them to one side of the tape.
Hither'south tip #1: Make sure you stagger the ends of the cables when you lot tape them together. This creates a "wedge" instead of a sudden bulge when pushing the cable back up through the wall.
Hither'south tip #2: If you notice you're having trouble forcing the cables back upwardly and wiggling it around isn't helping, employ vaseline. Rub a little on the duct taped surface area of the cables and that will help it slide through tight spots with less effort and without binding on as many things.
Hither's tip #iii: To run iii cables at a time, I had to guess at their lengths and cut them get-go. Where possible, utilise the runner cablevision straight out of the box. Run it through where you'll eventually secure it in the joists, but don't cut the terminate until you lot're sure it's in the right identify. This will save you several feet of cablevision on each run.
If all has gone according to program, you'll take a cablevision (or multiple cables) sticking out of your wall and your basement ceiling or cranium flooring.
Wiring Keystone Jacks
Now you'll demand some tools to assist build the cables themselves. This kit was a keen price to get the few tools I actually needed for the chore.
Specifically, I'll talk well-nigh the cable tester, punch downward tool, and the black cutters / strippers that look similar a clamp.
The kickoff thing y'all'll do is strip your cable using whatever tool y'all like. I found those black cutters to be perfect for the chore. You could conform the razor's depth (utilize some do sections of the cable) to the correct length, then but clench downward and run it in a circumvolve like yous would when cutting pipe. Strips the cablevision sheath right off.
In this photo, I'd stripped the wire ends every bit well to make a male-ended cable. Don't practice that. Instead, leave the private wires unstripped and nosotros'll wire upwards the keystone jacks we saw earlier.
To use the keystone jack, identify the wire that matches the color for the standard yous're using on the groove above that color, so use your punch-down tool to push the wire fully down into the groove.
The wires all come paired. Brown with brown-white, orangish with orangish-white, green with green-white, and blue with blue-white. Each volition get pushed into place and then you trim the ends. Simple as that. Information technology does take some strength to push the cables into place sometimes, only information technology's very piece of cake to do.
One time the wires are in place, you lot can hands prune the keystone module into your wall plate. Tilt the module into place in the panel so the lesser is connected to the panel, then rotate upward until the clip snaps into identify. Y'all can unclip these and move them effectually fairly hands (may crave a small screwdriver).
Here you can even see my "B" style wiring, with the orange pair closer to the front of this module and green at the rear, as the module shows me.
Wiring the Patch Console
This is even easier! Please ignore the dust in the photos beneath. With basement construction in progress, the grit is everywhere. I tin as well recommend some ethernet anti-grit caps for whatsoever unused jacks in your patch console or walls.
A patch panel is very similar to the keystone jacks we just talked nearly, merely laid out in a long strip. In a project like this, you're commonly going to have a primal location with a switch, then you'll take several cables all coming together at that aforementioned spot. Wiring those cables into a patch panel gives you a uncomplicated interface to connect to the switch or alternately to connect to other devices.
Here you tin can see nigh of my existing setup (much of which I'll exist replacing throughout this serial. The patch panel is sitting there at the bottom of the moving-picture show with a few wires in identify. These patch panels are great because they can fit easily on a shallow wall rack. I'll get more into mounting solutions later on, but for now, just know it's piece of cake to hang them up, easy to wire them up, and you're left with a dandy way to connect your entire network together.
It's the verbal aforementioned process as the keystone jacks, just with even more space bachelor to work. Wire up the pairs the way the patch panel tells you to and examination every bit you lot become.
Testing Cables Equally You lot Go
This is where the cable tester from the tool kit comes in handy. At each stop of your cable, you lot should now accept a female jack. 1 is your keystone jack in your wall plate, the other is your patch panel. You demand to have at least two trusted ethernet cables for this test.
Connect one cable tester (which requires a 9V battery, not included in the kit) to your patch panel via a trusted ethernet cablevision and the other cablevision tester to your wall keystone jack via your second trusted ethernet cable. Information technology doesn't matter which end goes where. If everything works, you lot should see the lights blink in sequence from 1 to eight on both testers.
If one light doesn't blink, you lot tin can run across in the tester documentation which color cable that number corresponds to (in either "B" or "A" configuration) and you can fix that unmarried connection at both ends.
Then yous test the speed of the cablevision.
At that place are many ways to test the speed of the cable. A very straightforward way is to use two computers and your existing switch and router. Go along in mind that you'll but be able to exam speeds as fast every bit the max connection speed of the computers and the switch. The router is needed for outside connections and to give you an IP address, just its speed doesn't matter for this test.
Connect either your patch console jack or your wall jack to your switch or router with i of your trusted ethernet cables.
Connect the other jack to one of your computers.
The other computer can exist sitting connected to the existing network (attached to the switch or router via another trusted cable).
Now we'll set up iPerf3. iPerf is a network speed testing tool and very simple to use, though it does work mostly on the command line.
Mac: brew install iperf3
Debian (Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, etc): sudo apt install iperf3
Fedora: sudo dnf install iperf3
Windows (or anyone who just wants to download the binaries): https://iperf.fr/iperf-download.php
One time you take iperf3 on both computers, you'll run it from the command line. Detect the IP address of one computer, and on that computer, employ "iperf3 -due south" to make iperf run as a server, accepting connections. On the other calculator, run "iperf3 -c 192.168.1.2" or any your ip address of the server is.
For my ain two computers, I used a Windows computer with Ubuntu running in Windows Subsystem For Linux. I'thousand a heavy Linux user, and having the WSL is a huge, if buggy, improvement in my Windows experience.
There are a lot of configuration options for iPerf, only for our examination, nosotros desire to run across if we are getting close to our max speed. My max connexion speed is 1 Gbps because I don't have whatsoever figurer capable of going faster than that, nor is my switch capable of going faster. Later in this serial I might take that capability, so I'll revisit this test at that fourth dimension!
In short, watch the speeds that iPerf shows you in the windows. Mine hovers around 940 Mbps in this test, which is great. There's some network overhead in a network connexion, and this tells me I'k achieving approximately gigabit speeds. Perfect. This cable is done.
In my own project, I'll terminate wiring upward the rest of the upstairs to one patch panel and every bit I build walls in the basement, I'll wire up the downstairs to a second patch panel. The flexibility this offers me even during my build is splendid. I'll exist moving my router and switch and server upstairs while I build the basement, and to do so, all I have to do is swap some cables on the patch panel (plug in new cables in the front, not wire new cables in the back). When I move it dorsum downstairs, I just bandy some cables once more and I'm done.
Source: https://levelup.gitconnected.com/networking-your-home-ethernet-1dc94cdf6c1e
Posted by: rinconwhought.blogspot.com
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