New home network

I've been reading back a few pages and was going to comment asking for sugguestions on one of them but didnt wana hijack them.

I am thinking of setting up a network for the house because the tv, xbox, sky box and blu-ray player can all connect to the internet plus our phones and laptop. I want to set up a server for streaming movies music and photos to the tv and xbox or whatever is easier to set up networking wise, the Sky hub is behind the tv so there is only 3 ethernet ports available due to one for the wan.

The server will be upstairs in the spare room so will home plugs or ethernet cable be the best option? I think I know the answer lol. I have two spare computers that no one uses because they would rather use their phones, laptops and tablets these days so I thought I would put them to good use. My laptop is running Win 7 server running Linux Ubuntu.

There is an old RF cable in a wall socket marked RF/Radio I was thinking running a cable from it into the spare room. I can take pictures but just trying to get an idea of what to do and any sugguestions are very welcome

Cat5e infrastructure cabling with wall sockets is best bet but home plugs and devices like echobox can use existing wiring if running cables is difficult

I think the first thing to get right before the server/client side stuff is to get your wired networking in place. Run Cat5e or Cat6 cable, use good cabling and wall jacks (if you are going that far). Try and run all cables back to a central place in your house (loft, cupboard, etc) which has provision for a 8 port switch etc. You could locate this in the same place as your server if you wanted, so consider putting it in an area which is away from bedrooms etc - servers make noise, and some switches have fans in them.

If you are tearing up floors and walls then consider dual wall ports for the sake of a bit of extra cable and keystones.

Also it is always a good time to revisit your phone line wiring, get a filtered faceplate, good quality RJ11 cable between your socket and your router (put router in same place??), split off your phone and ADSL from the socket, etc. If necessary consider calling out BT and pay to get the phone line moved into a sensible place.

Depends what extreme you want to go I suppose!

Edited by Pipexer (Mon 24-Jun-13 22:50:20)

BT engineer was out today and put the router/vdsl modem behind were the tv is gonna sit all wiring is new and has the proper faceplate you say. I should have mentioned this isnt my house and we are not completely moved in yet (groceries to get-missus logic). I want to keep the server in a small box room, which will be an old pc running Ubuntu fresh install with bits and bobs from my families old computer. I have done a small bit of networking before file and printer sharing mainly and I have an old netgear DG834GT I think that has hardly been used which could be put to good use I think. So basically I need a cable from where the Sky hub sits to a server up stairs, would there have to be two cables? Starting to confuse myself now

2 cables would give you future proofing but you could just do 1 and then use a switch (such as your old netgear if you turn off the DHCP in it). I have surface cabled mine at the moment so just ran one cable each to 2 separate locations and have a switch on the end of each cable to serve all the bits of hardware.

Having the modem behind the TV is one of the WORST places it could be located. All TVs radiant electronic noise and that will cause interference on the input side of he modem resulting in reduced speeds. Even putting the modem 5 metres always with a twisted pair cable will not eliminate it - it could reduce it but there will be some effects.


You need to install Cat5e (capable of 1Gbps) and RJ45 sockets around the house with a suitable switch.

Given that you want to connect the TV and ancilliaries you have two options.

Run a screened cable from the socket to a remotely located modem, from that to a Gbit switch and then back to the TV location with several Cat5e connections.

OR

Put a small 8 port Gbit switch in the same location. Connect the router to the switch, the TV &c to the switch and then using an RJ45 socket and infrastructure Cat5e cable run a a link to another location where you can install another 8 port switch and connectivity to other locations.

I have a few old routers that could be used as switches so wont need to pay any money out for 8 port switches especially when it would not be needed. My only problem really is getting the cable from point A to point B which is were this Aerial/FM socket comes in(aerial cable sticking out), will need to find out where this cable goes, if its into the attic then happydays I can just attach ethernet to it pull it up drop it into the other room and connect it to one of my old routers.

Only time will tell if it makes much of a difference to my connection. I have not been able to test it properly as I am not properly moved in yet and I do not doubt you at all. If it makes a difference I will move it but for now it has to stay there, well for 10 days anyway.

Ok so I have been brain storming the last day or two. Plan of action is to move the OR modem upstairs myself using a Cat5e cable with RJ-11 plugs, running another cable with it for data with RJ-45 plugs into the room where the server is going to be.

Starting to read different places people have NAS' installed and I am wondering is that a better option, quieter, more efficient, less power used are all positives. The only negitive is having to buy one.

Don't try to use cable with plugs attached. You should use infrastructure cable and that is not suitable for plugs.

Get a standard square electrical backbox and a modular faceplate, then insert an RJ11 and RJ45 socket into it. For the incoming signal to te modem, try to use shielded or screened Cat5e. Ethernet data is a lot more resilient and you can use ordinary Cat5e. Then use short patch leads from the sockets to the master, the modem and devices.

You could use 2 x RJ45 sockets as they will take an RJ11/12/14 plug into the centre.