Cabling

The next major development of Week 7 was the cabling.

This has been a real challenge and a huge learning curve for me, as I've gone from zero knowledge (thinking if you had phone points beside computers they'd all be able to access the Internet) to designing a smart wiring system to meet our needs.

It seems that the builder doesn't have a lot of demand for computer networking and is not well placed to provide the service at this time. In hindsight, I think if they'd told me from the beginning to outsource it I could have avoided a few headaches and got a professional to explain it all to me.

But there I was two weeks before cabling was due to commence still with no definite plan in place. I had spent weeks researching the builder's recommendation of the Lexcom Home Network, which runs all phone/data and audio/visual applications on a single cable. I'd learnt about the differences between Cat 5 and Cat 7 cable, about patch panels and modulators and RJ-45 outlets, and had drawn up a plan for our needs, but still had not had the promised meeting with the company and still had no idea what it would cost. With time running out, I approached the company directly, and to their credit, had a sales rep meet me onsite to confirm the workability of the plan and arrange an independent contractor to quote. That was last Monday, and the quote didn't come in until Friday afternoon, with cabling due to start this week. At $8000, plus additional components still to be priced, I reluctantly confronted the reality that many of the additional features of the network were luxuries that we were unlikely to make regular use of, or that could be achieved another way (eg. stream wirelessly from computer to TV). So it was back to the drawing board over the weekend to design a simpler Cat 5 system to network all the computers, printers and security camera, and back to the computer to revise my understanding of routers, switches, patch panels and media extenders.

I felt quite stressed about the whole thing, knowing that the walls were due to be sheeted once the cabling was done and that this would be the last chance to get it all sorted. I got some last minute advice on where to position the modem and how to wire the network camera and some reassurance from the subbies that it was workable. Time will tell. I'll post my network plan on here soon. In the meantime here's some shots of the cabling for power, TV and data.


The set-out in the lounge for data, power, TV + pay, power and phone. I'm not sure if we'll get pay TV, as we really don't watch much TV anyway, but at least it will be prewired should it be required in the future.

Coax cables for TV...dangling from the roof, and curled up ready for connection.

Phone cables

The mass of blue is the Cat 5 cables coming into the point where the patch panel will be located. The white cables are power for all the computer equipment.