The contractor asked me how I want things wired and I didn’t really know.
I was thinking Cat6 ethernet cable with a wall plate in each room. They would all run to the crawl space where I’d have my modem and NAS.
It’s a small house. Only 5 ethernet wall plates throughout.
Is there anything I should ask for? I use Plex and IPTV.
Thanks.
Surprised at all the recommendations for Cat6. That’s fine for Gigabit. Houses are already being serviced by fiber with speeds that exceed Gigabit speeds, so the minimum I would suggest in 2023 is Cat6A.
I am currently in the same situation but missed the wiring deadline so I am going to end up running OM4 fiber (10/40/100 Gigabit) under carpets for the office/living room/bedroom. Small SFP+ switches are available for reasonable prices now, so you can have a fast 10Gb trunk to service each floor and take 2.5Gb from them.
Cat6 will get you 10Gb up to about 175 linear feet, which is usually enough for your average 2-story home. It’s still mainstream/readily available, and is a bit easier to work with than 6a. Definitely 6a for distances beyond 175 feet though. Agreed though on fiber backbones for high speeds.
That’s correct Cat6 maxes out at 10Gb on short runs. It’s also a case that there’s an issue with heat, trying to push 10Gb over wire - usually exhibited in the SFP+ transceivers, switches and such, which is reduced with 6A and better.
In 10 years time, will you wish you had made the minimal additional investment in 6A over 6 when speeds increase and your wires are all behind sheetrock or plaster? I’ve already done multiple build-outs in commercial and homes, and I’m well aware of how quickly these wiring jobs become obsolete. So I won’t even touch anything below Cat6A today.
Addendum: the heat issue that causes 10Gb copper wire SFP+ transceivers to burn out is why I’m running fiber - significantly cheaper running costs too.
We might need to transition to fiber for more than 10gb either way. The SFP+ transceiver heat issue you mention is very real. In my case it fried the port on my Ruckus switch, not the transceiver though. And that was running in 2.5gbps mode with a 3 foot cable.
Seems like you have to run conduit if you want true future proofing.