How to best (re)wire my home for Ethernet?
August 6, 2023 11:55 AM Subscribe
Ten years ago when I moved into this house, I wired it for Ethernet. I didn't know what I was doing. Now I'm encountering some issues and I think I need to make some changes, but I have some questions! More after the fold...
In 2011 when I moved into my house, I bought a big spool of Cat 5e patch cable.
The internet and router are in the basement. From my network rack in the basement, I ran two very long runs:
1. Cable one goes from the basement up through the walls all the way into the attic and then feeds another network rack on the 2nd floor of my house that is a distribution point for all wired networking on the 2nd floor.
2. Cable two goes from the basement up and out to feed our first floor living room and the myriad of devices there. Since the living room is an addition, there's no basement there - only crawl space - so it goes from the basement out into the crawl space and then up into the living room.
Both runs have worked (mostly) reliably well, but over the last 6 months I've started to encounter some issues that seem to manifest as packet loss. Yesterday, I upgraded my router to a new UniFi Dream Machine Pro, and it is super cool.
However, it has been logging the following error messages pretty consistently:
A high quantity of dropped packets were detected on Port 3 in the last hour. Try to replace the cable.
A high quantity of dropped packets were detected on Port 1 in the last hour. Try to replace the cable.
Ports 1 and 3 are the two cable runs I described above. I assume that my choice of patch cable instead of some kind of riser cable plus ten years of being in the crawl space and run up through the attic and maybe I got one of them or both of them too close to some electrical cable and there's interference or I don't know. Shit.
OK. I have decided I think the way forward is to buy a new spool of cable and re-do these runs. My questions:
1. The old spool was Cat5e. Most of the stuff on my network right now is 1Gb, but I would like to future proof myself so I maximize the time I will ever need to run new cable again, especially for these two main runs. I should likely consider Cat7 or Cat8, right? I should use riser cable right? Any specific recommendations on a specific spool that would fit all the checkmarks? I started reading an article online about this and there were so many terms and variables I had never thought about (or heard of) I ended up more confused than when I started.
2. I know electrical interference can be a thing - I try to keep 6-8 inches from any electrical cable, but it's hard sometimes. I don't always know what's in the walls. Is there some kind of shielded Cat cable that would be good for this?
3. I have not used any wire trays or anything. This is pretty "DIY" so I just went out and got a fancy stapler that fires these insulated wiring staples and I just staple the cables periodically to the studs as I go when necessary. It seems fine, mostly because I don't want to like, run a wiring tray across the crawl space in my living room. Does that seem fine?
Any other tips?
In 2011 when I moved into my house, I bought a big spool of Cat 5e patch cable.
The internet and router are in the basement. From my network rack in the basement, I ran two very long runs:
1. Cable one goes from the basement up through the walls all the way into the attic and then feeds another network rack on the 2nd floor of my house that is a distribution point for all wired networking on the 2nd floor.
2. Cable two goes from the basement up and out to feed our first floor living room and the myriad of devices there. Since the living room is an addition, there's no basement there - only crawl space - so it goes from the basement out into the crawl space and then up into the living room.
Both runs have worked (mostly) reliably well, but over the last 6 months I've started to encounter some issues that seem to manifest as packet loss. Yesterday, I upgraded my router to a new UniFi Dream Machine Pro, and it is super cool.
However, it has been logging the following error messages pretty consistently:
A high quantity of dropped packets were detected on Port 3 in the last hour. Try to replace the cable.
A high quantity of dropped packets were detected on Port 1 in the last hour. Try to replace the cable.
Ports 1 and 3 are the two cable runs I described above. I assume that my choice of patch cable instead of some kind of riser cable plus ten years of being in the crawl space and run up through the attic and maybe I got one of them or both of them too close to some electrical cable and there's interference or I don't know. Shit.
OK. I have decided I think the way forward is to buy a new spool of cable and re-do these runs. My questions:
1. The old spool was Cat5e. Most of the stuff on my network right now is 1Gb, but I would like to future proof myself so I maximize the time I will ever need to run new cable again, especially for these two main runs. I should likely consider Cat7 or Cat8, right? I should use riser cable right? Any specific recommendations on a specific spool that would fit all the checkmarks? I started reading an article online about this and there were so many terms and variables I had never thought about (or heard of) I ended up more confused than when I started.
2. I know electrical interference can be a thing - I try to keep 6-8 inches from any electrical cable, but it's hard sometimes. I don't always know what's in the walls. Is there some kind of shielded Cat cable that would be good for this?
3. I have not used any wire trays or anything. This is pretty "DIY" so I just went out and got a fancy stapler that fires these insulated wiring staples and I just staple the cables periodically to the studs as I go when necessary. It seems fine, mostly because I don't want to like, run a wiring tray across the crawl space in my living room. Does that seem fine?
Any other tips?
Best answer: Try reterminating the cables before you pull them again. That's a likely source of issues: if the terminals were a little loose at first they might have gotten borderline in the last 10 years. Worst case it doesn't do anything; you'd have to do this anyway with rewiring so it won't cost any additional in tools.
posted by kdar at 12:01 PM on August 6, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by kdar at 12:01 PM on August 6, 2023 [14 favorites]
Response by poster: Try reterminating the cables before you pull them again.
Not to thread-sit - I'll step away after this - but that's a great point and something that's been in the back of my mind. At both ends they're wired into a patch panel with plenty of slack, so it's no big deal to strip'em and re-do 'em.
However, now I also have a bee-in-my-bonnet about potentially getting a new spool and throwing some much higher performance future-proof wiring in there, so I would still be happy to hear from folks on that front.
posted by kbanas at 12:09 PM on August 6, 2023
Not to thread-sit - I'll step away after this - but that's a great point and something that's been in the back of my mind. At both ends they're wired into a patch panel with plenty of slack, so it's no big deal to strip'em and re-do 'em.
However, now I also have a bee-in-my-bonnet about potentially getting a new spool and throwing some much higher performance future-proof wiring in there, so I would still be happy to hear from folks on that front.
posted by kbanas at 12:09 PM on August 6, 2023
i agree with kdar. also you don't say how you terminated them but, terminate them on jacks instead of rj45s and use actual short patch cables to connect them to the switch or whatever you're using. rj45s suck. i never use em.
1. i've been doing structured cabling for over 5 years in commercial and industrial sites, and i've never run anything above cat6a. cat6e is what i use for everything. while 6e is not officially a standard, that's what my supplier sells, so it's what i use. riser is fine. you might want to use plenum cable if you're running the cables through like an air duct or some other sort of air-handling space, but it's more expensive and a bit harder to work with (tends to kink up, jacket is weaker physically) so i only use it when necessary. don't use cat7. cat8 is like 5 times the price of cat6 (more or less), and much less readily available, so i think in this case the argument for "future-proofing" with cat8 is weak because by the time you "need" cat8 who knows what other new technologies will have been developed.
2. electrical interference is technically a thing, but in a residential setting it's practically non-existent unless you're doing something really weird or going out of your way to induce it. just try not to run your data parallel alongside power. cross power at a 90° when possible. shielded cable does exist but you don't need it in residential. i usually use it in industrial sites around giant machines drawing crazy amounts of power.
3. i just use "screw hole zip ties." i never use staples. a poorly-aimed or over-zealous staple might damage the cable.
generally, try not to overthink this
posted by glonous keming at 12:31 PM on August 6, 2023 [10 favorites]
1. i've been doing structured cabling for over 5 years in commercial and industrial sites, and i've never run anything above cat6a. cat6e is what i use for everything. while 6e is not officially a standard, that's what my supplier sells, so it's what i use. riser is fine. you might want to use plenum cable if you're running the cables through like an air duct or some other sort of air-handling space, but it's more expensive and a bit harder to work with (tends to kink up, jacket is weaker physically) so i only use it when necessary. don't use cat7. cat8 is like 5 times the price of cat6 (more or less), and much less readily available, so i think in this case the argument for "future-proofing" with cat8 is weak because by the time you "need" cat8 who knows what other new technologies will have been developed.
2. electrical interference is technically a thing, but in a residential setting it's practically non-existent unless you're doing something really weird or going out of your way to induce it. just try not to run your data parallel alongside power. cross power at a 90° when possible. shielded cable does exist but you don't need it in residential. i usually use it in industrial sites around giant machines drawing crazy amounts of power.
3. i just use "screw hole zip ties." i never use staples. a poorly-aimed or over-zealous staple might damage the cable.
generally, try not to overthink this
posted by glonous keming at 12:31 PM on August 6, 2023 [10 favorites]
The most common source of unreliability I see in twisted-pair Ethernet installations is connectors, and the most common source of connector failures I see is insulation-displacement connectors designed for use with stranded wire used with solid wire instead, or vice versa. Another one is corroding contacts in shit-grade jacks installed because somebody would rather pay thousands in service calls than an extra two bucks per outlet for Krone, or shit-grade plugs, or plugs not crimped properly even if they are the right ones for the stranded/non-stranded wire type in use. Really is pretty amazing how often tens of thousands of dollars' worth of networking gear get brought completely undone by a failed two dollar patch cable.
Pinpointing which connector is troublesome is often easier if you have a TDR cable tester available. D-Link makes some cheap managed switches, the DGS-1100 series, that include that functionality if your shiny new router doesn't. It will detect opens or shorts in any of the four pairs on any cable connected to any of its ports, and give you a pretty good estimate of how many metres down the cable the fault is located.
I wouldn't even bother considering electrical interference issues until I was sure all the connectors were in good shape. Twisted pair is good at rejecting interference; that's kind of the point of it. When Ethernet cables get shielded, that's usually for lightning protection in cables that need to be run outdoors.
Also, your existing Cat 5e is probably plenty good enough to ship gigabit Ethernet, and maybe even 10Gb, over the few tens of metres it will ever need to go inside a residence.
posted by flabdablet at 1:10 PM on August 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Pinpointing which connector is troublesome is often easier if you have a TDR cable tester available. D-Link makes some cheap managed switches, the DGS-1100 series, that include that functionality if your shiny new router doesn't. It will detect opens or shorts in any of the four pairs on any cable connected to any of its ports, and give you a pretty good estimate of how many metres down the cable the fault is located.
I wouldn't even bother considering electrical interference issues until I was sure all the connectors were in good shape. Twisted pair is good at rejecting interference; that's kind of the point of it. When Ethernet cables get shielded, that's usually for lightning protection in cables that need to be run outdoors.
Also, your existing Cat 5e is probably plenty good enough to ship gigabit Ethernet, and maybe even 10Gb, over the few tens of metres it will ever need to go inside a residence.
posted by flabdablet at 1:10 PM on August 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks for all the advice.
So, to clarify, my understanding is that:
1. For the long runs through the house, I should use solid cable and terminate both end with keystone jacks into a patch panel or a wall plate.
2. For patch cables from the patch cable/plate to the switch, etc, I am fine to use stranded cable that is more flexible with ends terminated in RJ45 jacks.
Correct?
posted by kbanas at 1:17 PM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
So, to clarify, my understanding is that:
1. For the long runs through the house, I should use solid cable and terminate both end with keystone jacks into a patch panel or a wall plate.
2. For patch cables from the patch cable/plate to the switch, etc, I am fine to use stranded cable that is more flexible with ends terminated in RJ45 jacks.
Correct?
posted by kbanas at 1:17 PM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Nth the above to re-terminate the cables at each end into with a proper jack using a 110 punch down tool.
Pay attention to which colors go to which pins. In particular, the blue goes between the green (T568B) ones. So 1/2 are a twisted pair, 3/6 are a pair, 4/5 are a pair, and 7/8 are the last pair. Make sure that you are consistent in what color goes to what pair. Look at the color to pin diagram for T568A and T568B, flip a coin to pick one, and then stick with it. With any luck, the patch panel that you are terminating is color coded.
For the terminations, keep the twist right up to the termination point. I've seen cables fail a tester because the guy was lazy and had 2" of straight, untwisted wire leading out of the jack.
In terms of using 5e vs 6 vs 6e vs 7/8 cable, you can easily run 1Gbps over 5e up to 100m (300+ft). So keep the existing cable unless you have reason to believe it is damaged. 2.5Gbps and even 5Gbps will also work just fine over 5e cabling in a low density residential environment. You can even run 10Gbps over 5e in a pinch, but only up to about 40ft or so. (I'd bump up to 6/6e in a high density commercial environment where you have a lot of cables slammed together to cut down on crosstalk).
posted by SegFaultCoreDump at 1:18 PM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Pay attention to which colors go to which pins. In particular, the blue goes between the green (T568B) ones. So 1/2 are a twisted pair, 3/6 are a pair, 4/5 are a pair, and 7/8 are the last pair. Make sure that you are consistent in what color goes to what pair. Look at the color to pin diagram for T568A and T568B, flip a coin to pick one, and then stick with it. With any luck, the patch panel that you are terminating is color coded.
For the terminations, keep the twist right up to the termination point. I've seen cables fail a tester because the guy was lazy and had 2" of straight, untwisted wire leading out of the jack.
In terms of using 5e vs 6 vs 6e vs 7/8 cable, you can easily run 1Gbps over 5e up to 100m (300+ft). So keep the existing cable unless you have reason to believe it is damaged. 2.5Gbps and even 5Gbps will also work just fine over 5e cabling in a low density residential environment. You can even run 10Gbps over 5e in a pinch, but only up to about 40ft or so. (I'd bump up to 6/6e in a high density commercial environment where you have a lot of cables slammed together to cut down on crosstalk).
posted by SegFaultCoreDump at 1:18 PM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: @kbanas your understanding in your last comment is 100% correct.
posted by zsazsa at 1:36 PM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by zsazsa at 1:36 PM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Look at the color to pin diagram for T568A and T568B, flip a coin to pick one, and then stick with it.
Lemme flip it for you. Pick B. A is the more "correct" but there's a hell of a lot more B wiring around and it's therefore what the next guy is probably going to expect.
Here's the color to pin diagram for T568B. T568A swaps the orange pair with the green one but is otherwise the same.
Note that both of those wiring standards put one twisted pair on the two centre pins, then another pair on the next two pins out, then a pair on each flank. If your wiring does that, and connects the same wire colours to the same pin numbers on each end, then it will work even if you've got the colours mixed up. But don't be creative like that. Just use T568B.
I've seen Ethernet patch cables with the pairs wired straight across the plug in pin number order, so it ends up with pairs on 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8. When a patch cable miswired that way is used to connect two standard Ethernet jacks, the signal on e.g. pins 4/5 ends up on two halves of two separate pairs instead of on a pair of its own. That actually kind of works for very short patch cables carrying 10Mb/s or 100Mb/s Ethernet, but it causes very bad packet loss on cables longer than about two metres and/or run at gigabit speeds.
That kind of miswiring is more common on plugs than on jacks but I've seen it on jacks as well, probably because some older jacks run the pins out to the punch-down blocks strictly in order, while others rearrange things to let you punch each pair into adjacent punchdowns (jacks rated for Cat 6 all do that so that the pairs can stay twisted all the way to the terminations). Best thing is to buy jacks that are color-coded to show which color wire goes to which punchdown, and trust that coding.
Most Ethernet plugs have insulation displacement connectors that simply end up poking a pointy bit of metal into the guts of the wire when crimped. The assumption is that the wire is stranded, as is typical for patch cables, and that the pointy bit ends up surrounded by crushed-together strands. If you terminate a typical solid-wire fixed cable with one of those plugs, the pointy bit usually rubs against the solid conductor well enough to work for a while. Usually. Maybe.
You can get Ethernet plugs specifically designed to be crimped onto solid-wire cables, where instead of the pointy bit there's an arrangement of little tabs that straddles the wire and gets crushed into place by the crimper, but don't. Just use jacks.
If you get good quality jacks, and use a proper punchdown tool instead of trying to fake it with a screwdriver or pliers or relying on the nasty little plastic thing that often comes with the jacks, the fact that using jacks doubles the number of connectors in every run of cable won't cause you reliability issues. It's actually the interface between the wire and the plug that's the most half-assed part of the twisted-pair Ethernet design, and it's good to be able to get rid of a failed one just by swapping out a little patch cable.
posted by flabdablet at 3:02 PM on August 6, 2023
Lemme flip it for you. Pick B. A is the more "correct" but there's a hell of a lot more B wiring around and it's therefore what the next guy is probably going to expect.
Here's the color to pin diagram for T568B. T568A swaps the orange pair with the green one but is otherwise the same.
Note that both of those wiring standards put one twisted pair on the two centre pins, then another pair on the next two pins out, then a pair on each flank. If your wiring does that, and connects the same wire colours to the same pin numbers on each end, then it will work even if you've got the colours mixed up. But don't be creative like that. Just use T568B.
I've seen Ethernet patch cables with the pairs wired straight across the plug in pin number order, so it ends up with pairs on 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8. When a patch cable miswired that way is used to connect two standard Ethernet jacks, the signal on e.g. pins 4/5 ends up on two halves of two separate pairs instead of on a pair of its own. That actually kind of works for very short patch cables carrying 10Mb/s or 100Mb/s Ethernet, but it causes very bad packet loss on cables longer than about two metres and/or run at gigabit speeds.
That kind of miswiring is more common on plugs than on jacks but I've seen it on jacks as well, probably because some older jacks run the pins out to the punch-down blocks strictly in order, while others rearrange things to let you punch each pair into adjacent punchdowns (jacks rated for Cat 6 all do that so that the pairs can stay twisted all the way to the terminations). Best thing is to buy jacks that are color-coded to show which color wire goes to which punchdown, and trust that coding.
Most Ethernet plugs have insulation displacement connectors that simply end up poking a pointy bit of metal into the guts of the wire when crimped. The assumption is that the wire is stranded, as is typical for patch cables, and that the pointy bit ends up surrounded by crushed-together strands. If you terminate a typical solid-wire fixed cable with one of those plugs, the pointy bit usually rubs against the solid conductor well enough to work for a while. Usually. Maybe.
You can get Ethernet plugs specifically designed to be crimped onto solid-wire cables, where instead of the pointy bit there's an arrangement of little tabs that straddles the wire and gets crushed into place by the crimper, but don't. Just use jacks.
If you get good quality jacks, and use a proper punchdown tool instead of trying to fake it with a screwdriver or pliers or relying on the nasty little plastic thing that often comes with the jacks, the fact that using jacks doubles the number of connectors in every run of cable won't cause you reliability issues. It's actually the interface between the wire and the plug that's the most half-assed part of the twisted-pair Ethernet design, and it's good to be able to get rid of a failed one just by swapping out a little patch cable.
posted by flabdablet at 3:02 PM on August 6, 2023
Response by poster: Here's the color to pin diagram for T568B. T568A swaps the orange pair with the green one but is otherwise the same.
When I arrived at the University of Michigan as an undergraduate in 1999, I got a job at the Departmental Computing Organization - a small IT group that supports the Computer Science department.
On my first day I walked in and there were several spools of Ethernet, several boxes of RJ45 jacks, some crimpers and a Fluke network tester.
For the next six weeks, all I did was make patch cables. 3 foot, 6 foot, 10 foot, 25 foot, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Those first couple weeks at the end of the work day my hands didn't really work that well. We were taught T568A, and I will never, ever, do anything else - it was hammered into my subconscious and it's just one of those things that is an immutable truth. I will know that color pattern until the day I die.
But I appreciate the advice!
posted by kbanas at 3:11 PM on August 6, 2023 [7 favorites]
When I arrived at the University of Michigan as an undergraduate in 1999, I got a job at the Departmental Computing Organization - a small IT group that supports the Computer Science department.
On my first day I walked in and there were several spools of Ethernet, several boxes of RJ45 jacks, some crimpers and a Fluke network tester.
For the next six weeks, all I did was make patch cables. 3 foot, 6 foot, 10 foot, 25 foot, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Those first couple weeks at the end of the work day my hands didn't really work that well. We were taught T568A, and I will never, ever, do anything else - it was hammered into my subconscious and it's just one of those things that is an immutable truth. I will know that color pattern until the day I die.
But I appreciate the advice!
posted by kbanas at 3:11 PM on August 6, 2023 [7 favorites]
We were taught T568A, and I will never, ever, do anything else
Then I unconditionally withdraw my support for B. Sorry to patronize. I just took "I didn't know what I was doing" at face value.
posted by flabdablet at 3:18 PM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Then I unconditionally withdraw my support for B. Sorry to patronize. I just took "I didn't know what I was doing" at face value.
posted by flabdablet at 3:18 PM on August 6, 2023 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Anyway, I appreciate everyone's truly excellent advice.
These problematic runs are already wired to keystone jacks (as opposed to RJ45 connectors).
However, I realized reading this through that absolutely did just rely on the "nasty little plastic thing" that came with the jacks to try to punch them down, and some of them look a little shady to me.... so, that's definitely where to start.
I ordered a problem punchdown tool and I'll re-do them and see where it gets me.
Thanks!
posted by kbanas at 3:18 PM on August 6, 2023
These problematic runs are already wired to keystone jacks (as opposed to RJ45 connectors).
However, I realized reading this through that absolutely did just rely on the "nasty little plastic thing" that came with the jacks to try to punch them down, and some of them look a little shady to me.... so, that's definitely where to start.
I ordered a problem punchdown tool and I'll re-do them and see where it gets me.
Thanks!
posted by kbanas at 3:18 PM on August 6, 2023
Response by poster: Then I unconditionally withdraw my support for B. Sorry to patronize. I just took "I didn't know what I was doing" at face value.
Not at all! That's what I said and you have to take me at face value. I definitely *don't* know what I'm doing, but I realize that knowing what you're doing is graded on a relative scale. I definitely appreciated all your advice in this thread!
posted by kbanas at 3:20 PM on August 6, 2023
Not at all! That's what I said and you have to take me at face value. I definitely *don't* know what I'm doing, but I realize that knowing what you're doing is graded on a relative scale. I definitely appreciated all your advice in this thread!
posted by kbanas at 3:20 PM on August 6, 2023
I was just going to recommend a 2/4 wall mount box for the basement instead of going full patch panel. And just buy your patch cables, the factory made ones get tested and are more reliable than hand made ones. Don't staple, screw, zip-tie anything except maybe some velcro tape around the patch cables in the closet. You want to be able to just tape the new cable onto the old cable and use the old cable to pull the new cable into place.
You might also want to try some contact cleaner, you can spray a bit on a plug and go in and out of the jack a few times then give it a minute to evaporate (it's non conductive anyways). That's good for cleaning up tarnished connections.
posted by zengargoyle at 4:21 PM on August 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
You might also want to try some contact cleaner, you can spray a bit on a plug and go in and out of the jack a few times then give it a minute to evaporate (it's non conductive anyways). That's good for cleaning up tarnished connections.
posted by zengargoyle at 4:21 PM on August 6, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Common failure mode for the nasty little plastic thing is that it takes ridiculous amounts of grip strength to get the wire all the way to the bottom of the punchdown slot, so it often ends up just kind of poked down into it in a half-hearted fashion. The insulation certainly gets displaced and the wire does make contact, but the slot doesn't get the opportunity to put enough of a gouge in the wire to make a gastight metal-to-metal connection and doesn't grip hard enough anywhere except right at the bottom, and two years later there's enough corrosion in the joint to make it unreliable.
Also, once you've done more than about one jack's worth of punchdowns with a nasty little plastic thing it will have started to splay a bit, making it even worse at actually, you know, punching down.
Real Krone tools cost stupid money for what they appear to be, but apart from doing a really thorough and tidy job of punching down and trimming in a single operation, they do just keep on working.
Seconding contact cleaner. Should be SOP for any jack that's sat empty for more than a month. CRC CO is the good stuff.
posted by flabdablet at 4:29 PM on August 6, 2023
Also, once you've done more than about one jack's worth of punchdowns with a nasty little plastic thing it will have started to splay a bit, making it even worse at actually, you know, punching down.
Real Krone tools cost stupid money for what they appear to be, but apart from doing a really thorough and tidy job of punching down and trimming in a single operation, they do just keep on working.
Seconding contact cleaner. Should be SOP for any jack that's sat empty for more than a month. CRC CO is the good stuff.
posted by flabdablet at 4:29 PM on August 6, 2023
On the question of cable, cat5e is supposed to support 10G up to 45m (which in your case would be longer than the run between your basement and attic, I would think). Home networks are not 10G yet, and are not likely to be 10G any time soon - fancier wifi6e devices are 2.5G at this point, and I think the market will take a while to move past that. So what you have is good for a long while to come without replacing the wire.
If you were going to replace wires, I would recommend replacing your one run of basement-attic cable with two runs of cable. That's probably more useful, as you can bond them for redundancy (one fails and your network continues to work) with suitable devices on each end that support it, and if you don't have suitable devices you still have a fallback cable to use if one cable gets temperamental.
My house is very very Ethernet enabled, thanks to someone a few owners back. But I don't need six Ethernet ports in my bedroom (!) in this day and age, I just need a smattering for wifi APs. Consider upgrading runs selectively rather than doing all of them just because they're there.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 5:53 PM on August 6, 2023
If you were going to replace wires, I would recommend replacing your one run of basement-attic cable with two runs of cable. That's probably more useful, as you can bond them for redundancy (one fails and your network continues to work) with suitable devices on each end that support it, and if you don't have suitable devices you still have a fallback cable to use if one cable gets temperamental.
My house is very very Ethernet enabled, thanks to someone a few owners back. But I don't need six Ethernet ports in my bedroom (!) in this day and age, I just need a smattering for wifi APs. Consider upgrading runs selectively rather than doing all of them just because they're there.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 5:53 PM on August 6, 2023
For what it's worth, the Ideal-branded tools available from Home Depot are perfectly reasonable. I was going to say reasonably priced, but apparently the wire cutter (which I find just perfect for stripping UTP) is now $20 and the punchdown tool is now $60. I could swear they used to be half that.
Whatever punchdown tool you get should be spring loaded (I believe they are correctly called impact tools). That way you get the correct amount of force to fully sear it in the 110 block without breaking it. It's easy for apes like myself to hit them too hard and crack the plastic without the feedback from the mechanism.
posted by wierdo at 3:38 AM on August 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
Whatever punchdown tool you get should be spring loaded (I believe they are correctly called impact tools). That way you get the correct amount of force to fully sear it in the 110 block without breaking it. It's easy for apes like myself to hit them too hard and crack the plastic without the feedback from the mechanism.
posted by wierdo at 3:38 AM on August 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
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