I need help. We're well out of my "I can figure this out" range and need help. I am trying to install Cat6 wiring for my house. We're dropping cable and putting in a business line at guaranteed 50mb down/10 up. We have ~30 WiFi attached devices at any given point in the house and once we start streaming TV, nothing's going to work right.
The basic layout is as follows (apologies for the Paint):
Basement (walkout) -
Entertainment area in one corner. This is already pre-wired for speakers and cable.
Plugged office area in opposite corner. This is pre-wired for cable and has ethernet ports, but I'm not sure what they are attached to (need to get into the sub-basement)
I have access to the sub-basement in the basement and to the entertainment center corner of the basement from above the ceiling using fish tape. The outer walls in the basement are cement - shocker, I know.
Main Floor -
Entertainment area is directly above entertainment center in the basement, but offset by ~2ft. In theory, this should be an easier run, just use two fish tape's - one down, one across and pull the lines accordingly.
I want to add a port on the main floor where our phone line is located. This is on an outside wall, making it harder, as the basement has a cement wall. I might be able to drop a line straight down, but I can't see how much space is between the cement wall and inner wall until later.
Second Floor -
Four bedrooms upstairs. I have access to the attic and can drop lines into the bedrooms from above. It's about getting the runs dropped into the right place. I will likely have the twin rooms mirror each other, the master will have a drop where the TV lives, and then a shared wall location with the office.
One thing that I am stuck on is placement of the switch rack. I will probably put in ~20 different lines (2 to each bedroom, 4 to each entertainment, 4 to office, 2 to office area of basement) and I still want to have WiFi. Wifey would prefer that I don't have all of this visible around the house. I was thinking about putting my switch and modem by the basement entertainment area, then putting the WiFi router on the main floor with that entertainment area. We have pretty bad signal between the three floors and everything is currently based out of the office upstairs. Even with a WiFi repeater, the basement is moderate at best.
Current setup:
Comcast WiFi 3-in-1 Modem/Router (WiFi router disabled)
Cisco Linksys EA3500 WiFi Router
What's attached:
Desktop (1)
Laptop (2)
TV (3)
Vizio Sound System
Solar City box
Sprint WiFi phone converter
Tablet (1)
Phone (2)
XBox
Sony DVD Player/Surround system
Chromecast (3)
Firestick (1, pending second)
Magic Jack
Alarm System
My help needed points:
1. What Cat6 (do I need that much level?) line should I get? This will all be run interior of the house.
2. What switch should I get given I want ~20 ports?
3. Simplest tool suggestions?
4. Recommendations for how best to organize the routing of wires, etc. I intend on investing in labels, Velcro straps, etc.
5. How much venting is necessary for a switch? Where it gets placed depends on the amount of head that needs to be dissipated. If I have to put a little shelf in somewhere in the basement I will, but if I could drop it into a closet I would prefer that.
Thanks
The basic layout is as follows (apologies for the Paint):
Basement (walkout) -
Entertainment area in one corner. This is already pre-wired for speakers and cable.
Plugged office area in opposite corner. This is pre-wired for cable and has ethernet ports, but I'm not sure what they are attached to (need to get into the sub-basement)
I have access to the sub-basement in the basement and to the entertainment center corner of the basement from above the ceiling using fish tape. The outer walls in the basement are cement - shocker, I know.
Main Floor -
Entertainment area is directly above entertainment center in the basement, but offset by ~2ft. In theory, this should be an easier run, just use two fish tape's - one down, one across and pull the lines accordingly.
I want to add a port on the main floor where our phone line is located. This is on an outside wall, making it harder, as the basement has a cement wall. I might be able to drop a line straight down, but I can't see how much space is between the cement wall and inner wall until later.
Second Floor -
Four bedrooms upstairs. I have access to the attic and can drop lines into the bedrooms from above. It's about getting the runs dropped into the right place. I will likely have the twin rooms mirror each other, the master will have a drop where the TV lives, and then a shared wall location with the office.
One thing that I am stuck on is placement of the switch rack. I will probably put in ~20 different lines (2 to each bedroom, 4 to each entertainment, 4 to office, 2 to office area of basement) and I still want to have WiFi. Wifey would prefer that I don't have all of this visible around the house. I was thinking about putting my switch and modem by the basement entertainment area, then putting the WiFi router on the main floor with that entertainment area. We have pretty bad signal between the three floors and everything is currently based out of the office upstairs. Even with a WiFi repeater, the basement is moderate at best.
Current setup:
Comcast WiFi 3-in-1 Modem/Router (WiFi router disabled)
Cisco Linksys EA3500 WiFi Router
What's attached:
Desktop (1)
Laptop (2)
TV (3)
Vizio Sound System
Solar City box
Sprint WiFi phone converter
Tablet (1)
Phone (2)
XBox
Sony DVD Player/Surround system
Chromecast (3)
Firestick (1, pending second)
Magic Jack
Alarm System
My help needed points:
1. What Cat6 (do I need that much level?) line should I get? This will all be run interior of the house.
2. What switch should I get given I want ~20 ports?
3. Simplest tool suggestions?
4. Recommendations for how best to organize the routing of wires, etc. I intend on investing in labels, Velcro straps, etc.
5. How much venting is necessary for a switch? Where it gets placed depends on the amount of head that needs to be dissipated. If I have to put a little shelf in somewhere in the basement I will, but if I could drop it into a closet I would prefer that.
Thanks
