People very seldom buy Cat5 these days. Pretty much anywhere you buy network cable you are going to get Cat5e or Cat6. Cat5e is just fine at gigabit speeds and Cat6 is only really required if you are thinking 10Gb in future. If cat6 is a similar price then may as well get it but if someone already has cat5e then there is little benefit to paying for cat6.

To the OP - As far as the original question is concerned for current requirements 100Mb would be fine. But, if at some point you were to upgrade to FTTP and go for a faster package then you would need higher speeds - this might be some time away though. You may decide at some point to get a NAS though and higher speeds might then be beneficial.

As far as running the cables invest in proper sockets at each end. Then you can use patch cables to connect to the router one end and switch the other. Get sockets with punch down connectors and you don't then need special crimping tools - crimping RJ45 plugs on the end of cables can go disastrously wrong if you aren't fairly proficient at it. Sockets make life much easier.

Both a 100 Mbps (about £6) or 1000 Mbps (about £12) switch will do the job fine, make sure the switch is a 'green' or 'energy efficient' model for cost-savings. If you want reliable wireless in the room too (maybe for phones etc) you can reconfigure an old wireless router to do this as well as the switching.

Whatever cable you have (so long as it is genuine network cable) is almost certainly fine for gigabit use, the standard was expressly developed to operate with enough headroom over 100m of worst-case CAT5 cable (not CAT5e) and your cable length is prob well above this spec.

Thanks for your help Andrew

Thanks for your help - sorry about the bit/byte confusion

Thanks for your help Ian. I just planned on buying the cables from Amazon so presume they will have proper sockets? Could you just tell me if I need to use the Gigabit port on the router to connect to the Switch or would it be just as good using one of the other ports? There's only one Gigabit port on the router and I currently use it for an android box I use for streaming to my TV

Thanks for your help

If it's a premade cable then yes, the moulded ends will be fine.

For your requirements it won't make any difference whether you use the 100Mb or 1Gb ports. The 1Gb port actually gives no benefit at all to you as the line won't run faster than 100Mb and everything else is connected to 100Mb ports anyway - having a single 1Gb port for an FTTC connection at present is more a sales ploy than real benefit.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Cheap? This is £13 http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-SG1005D-Gigabit-U...

Netgear more upmarket still cheap with metal case enclosure ensures good heat dissipation and LED lights on the front to indicate link operating.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AWM7PKO/sr=8-2/qid=143...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00AWM7PKO/...

Thanks - that's really helpful. I hadn't realised that

Post deleted by MrSaffron