New build networking.

Maverick567

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Myself and my partner have recently reserved a Taylor Wimey house and are just about to select options.

I am getting 16 Cat 5E points back to the understands cupboard hopefully terminated in a patch panel. I plan to have this cupboard for all media bits and pieces.

Sadly the builder will not fit Cat 6 despite asking.

My question is as a new build the BT line will have to be installed, do BT open reach come out after completion and install a master socket at a location of my choosing? The builder doesn't seem to know?

Thanks

J
 
I would assume that BT would bring the phone line to an outside wall.
You will probably want a phone in more than one room so you could ask the builder to run internal BT cables.
Then get him to run one to cupboard, then put the router there?
 
In new builds they are all pre wired by the builders who leave a cable hanging out through the wall and openreach will connect to that usually via underground duct onto the wall. There will generally be phone sockets in most the rooms. Just get them to run a cable in the cupboard for a phone line.

If the builders won't then when BT come out you're perfectly within your rights to ask for the main socket to be in there. Whether the engineer will or try to get out of it is another thing all together ;) Also they will surface mount everything and I would not want wires tact'd to my skirting board and holes drilled through my walls in a brand new house!
 
In new builds they are all pre wired by the builders who leave a cable hanging out through the wall and openreach will connect to that usually via underground duct onto the wall. There will generally be phone sockets in most the rooms. Just get them to run a cable in the cupboard for a phone line.

If the builders won't then when BT come out you're perfectly within your rights to ask for the main socket to be in there. Whether the engineer will or try to get out of it is another thing all together ;) Also they will surface mount everything and I would not want wires tact'd to my skirting board and holes drilled through my walls in a brand new house!

I have the option of putting a socket I there so for piece of mind I think I will probably get them to put a socket in the cupboard.

Thank you for clearing that up.
 
I have the option of putting a socket I there so for piece of mind I think I will probably get them to put a socket in the cupboard.

Thank you for clearing that up.


Remember if your planning to use the socket in the cupboard for broadband you may experience issues unless its the main socket. Any socket that's a extension from the master only serves to degrade your broadband signal/connection.
 
Remember if your planning to use the socket in the cupboard for broadband you may experience issues unless its the main socket. Any socket that's a extension from the master only serves to degrade your broadband signal/connection.
Edd I know however the cupboard is on a internal wall so I'm not that keen on having BT cable all around the bottom of the house if I can avoid. Any thought?
 
I can't think of a solution short of getting BT in at 1st fix so they can wire through the studwork.

Past that your left with make sure a good quality shielded phone cable is ran from where BT will place your main socket and where your cupboard will be and hope that there isn't high line attenuation where you are.

To plan for worst case scenario I'd also get them to run cat5 along with the phone cable, if the extended box in the cupboard proves to degrade the connection you could place you router where the main BT socket is and use the cat5 cable to get you into the cupboard.
 
One more question which I have no doubt will split opinion.

The builder has now said they will fit Cat 6 however it is ÂŁ70 a point opposed to ÂŁ50. Do people think Cat 6 is worth the extra?? I currently can't think of anything that is going to come even close to using the 1000mbps bandwidth available to Cat5E and I'm not overly interested HDMI over Cat.

People's views?
 
IMO no.
Cat5e if more that capable of running at 1GbE with the short 10-20m runs you find in a house. I also doubt many consumer products will have a 10GbE NIC in the near future and by that time I expect wireless technologies will be quicker anyway . Look at the current Samsung 4K TV sets, they use a 100Mbps NIC.
 
Nope also cat6 is supposed to be a lot more difficult to terminate correctly and working in a load of new builds where the electricians cannot even terminate phone cable onto sockets correctly I would have no faith they could manage to terminate cat6!
 
I'd be weary of a "builder" installing cat6, unless he's certified as a bona-fide data networking cable monkey. There's very much more to achieving cat6 than simply using cat6 cable, including the use of some very expensive testing equipment. Check out this link if you want to scare yourself...

Installation Pitfalls in Cat6 Cabling | Automated Home

cat5e is more forgiving and is "good" for GBit ethernet to 100m. I've got some that goes even further than that. I'd save the money.

IMHO if one has imminent need for 10Gig ethernet, one ought to be thinking about fibre rather than copper.
 
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Thanks all, the plans may have no been completely shelved... The options leaflet states Cat 5 and yesterday I had the moment of wondering if they actually install Cat 5 not Cat 5E. I have asked the question and they have said twice its just Cat 5.

I'm hoping it's a case that they just don't understand as Cat 5 went obsolete in 2001. I'm hoping to have a conversation with the electrician, if they won't allow that I will be ditching the plans as I am not paying ÂŁ50 a point for technology that is so out of date.
 
Seeing as it is a new house I would assume that if you select the cupboard as the location for the socket then that is where it will be wired to during construction. Afterall is that the point of choosing the options you want before completion ?
Stick with Cat 5e for the networking. If not happy with the replies you are getting ask to see the installer and get them to show you the cabling used. The box will be marked and the cabling itself is also marked Cat 5e.
As to the cupboard itself, have you considered ventilation and getting power sockets installed in there as well ?
 
Yeah I am trying to speak with the sparky. I have a light, power socket and BT socket to the cupboard. Depending on the heat the cupboard I have planned to vent it to under the stairs where there is a void into the hall.

Seeing as it is a new house I would assume that if you select the cupboard as the location for the socket then that is where it will be wired to during construction. Afterall is that the point of choosing the options you want before completion ?
Stick with Cat 5e for the networking. If not happy with the replies you are getting ask to see the installer and get them to show you the cabling used. The box will be marked and the cabling itself is also marked Cat 5e.
As to the cupboard itself, have you considered ventilation and getting power sockets installed in there as well ?
Seeing as it is a new house I would assume that if you select the cupboard as the location for the socket then that is where it will be wired to during construction. Afterall is that the point of choosing the options you want before completion ?
Stick with Cat 5e for the networking. If not happy with the replies you are getting ask to see the installer and get them to show you the cabling used. The box will be marked and the cabling itself is also marked Cat 5e.
As to the cupboard itself, have you considered ventilation and getting power sockets installed in there as well ?
 
I am advising my nephew on a new build semi detached. I understand his builder will wire a network upon request.
I am thinking a cable from master point at front door to upstairs study room which will be the Hub for the system. Has anyone got a schematic for a typical layout? How many Cat 5 cables to each location? Perhaps only one but perhaps up to four to the main tv area to allow for Sky Q and other devices? What sort of switch would he need as even a small house will have too many cables for a BT issue Router? Perhaps I have this all wrong but he seems to think I should know. Also RF Coaxial network?
 
I am advising my nephew on a new build semi detached. I understand his builder will wire a network upon request.
I am thinking a cable from master point at front door to upstairs study room which will be the Hub for the system. Has anyone got a schematic for a typical layout? How many Cat 5 cables to each location? Perhaps only one but perhaps up to four to the main tv area to allow for Sky Q and other devices? What sort of switch would he need as even a small house will have too many cables for a BT issue Router? Perhaps I have this all wrong but he seems to think I should know. Also RF Coaxial network?

Hi Tom,

I am going for 4 to main TV location in living room. 2 to the other side of the living room in case I want to move the TV.

2 to each further TV location.

2 to each bedroom location.

1 to the hallway to patch BT into network point.

All network points run back to an under stairs cupboard.

Regarding coax. I am getting two to the main TV location as with Sky Q only round the corner that's all I will need.

Mine may be overkill however it's better to have too many than not enough.
 
Hi Tom,

I am going for 4 to main TV location in living room. 2 to the other side of the living room in case I want to move the TV.

2 to each further TV location.

2 to each bedroom location.

1 to the hallway to patch BT into network point.

All network points run back to an under stairs cupboard.

Regarding coax. I am getting two to the main TV location as with Sky Q only round the corner that's all I will need.

Mine may be overkill however it's better to have too many than not enough.
Thanks. What do they all run back to.
 
Thanks. What do they all run back to.
Mine will run back to a patch panel in the cupboard which terminates all the connections. From that panel you use patch leads to connect to a Ethernet switch which would be connected to your router.

So where ever the Ethernet is terminated to needs at least a double socket if not more.
 
Mine will run back to a patch panel in the cupboard which terminates all the connections. From that panel you use patch leads to connect to a Ethernet switch which would be connected to your router.

So where ever the Ethernet is terminated to needs at least a double socket if not more.
Why is a Patch Panel required? Can the leads not be plugged directly to a switch?
 
Why is a Patch Panel required? Can the leads not be plugged directly to a switch?

You could however Cat 5 can be used for more than just Ethernet distribution. If you wanted to use it for phone distrubtion for example. The patch panel is probably the cheapest bit of the build and also makes the end result way neater.
 
Why is a Patch Panel required? Can the leads not be plugged directly to a switch?

In addition to Maverick's answer, it's much easier to terminate onto a patch panel than a load of fiddly plugs. Generally, solid cored cable (trunk) should be terminated onto patch panels/modules, and into plugs by exception. You then use patch leads, which are made of stranded cable, to connect devices/switches. Stranded cable is flexible whereas solid is prone to fracture after too much movement.
 
I am learning. My practical knowledge of this stuff is nil.
 
Maverick567,

We've just been through all this ourselves with our own new build.

It reads like you're sorted with regards your network but I might have something to offer with regards the telephone/internet.

My builder (Lagan Homes) ran the telephone cable into the house from the road - I've no idea whether they connected it in the street themselves or left it to Openreach. They would however only run the cable to a patress box in the hall, then "daisy-chained" an extension off from there to the study and "starred" further extensions from the study to the lounge and master bedroom - all in the same cable type as the external cable.

We went for Infinity but to get Infinity first you have to have a functioning phone line and "settled" broadband, then upgrade. The first BT guy that came out wasn't an Openreach field tech but a sub-contractor with an Openreach sticker on his van. I wanted the master socket in my study where my LAN patch panel was but despite my protests he refused to put the master socket anywhere but the first telephone patress box (in the hall) as doing anything else was 'not [his] job...grunt'. Having spoken directly to the site electrician and knowing what I wanted when wiring the house he didn't even cut the cable in the first patress box but just left a loop connected straight through to the extension in the study; which the contractor promptly cut to fit 'his' master socket!! Anyhow, for broadband that didn't matter as the router could connect to any extension in the house so I moved it into the study when he'd f%$*^d off. Then I upgraded to Infinity and managed to blag a free Openreach field tech visit to do the upgrade for me a couple of weeks later. He could not have been any more helpful if he was family or I'd paid him in gold bars. When he arrived he asked what I wanted and he just did it. He joined the cable in the hall and fitted a cover plate then replaced the extension socket in the study with the Infinity master socket. He then tested all the extensions (and found the lounge socket wasn't wired correctly so put that right) and the LAN network. He then left me his number and said to give him a call directly if I have any problems over the next couple of days.

Essentially, what I'm saying is, the builder should bring the cable in the from the road to wherever their standard/agreed location is for the first patress box. From there they should do whatever you want with regards extensions - afterall you're paying for them. So that you can put your router under your stairs you should at least request the first extension goes through to there and then request that all other extensions are spurred off from that socket. If you can get Taylor Wimpey to take the incoming external telephone cable straight to a patress box under your stairs then you're laughing but Lagan's wouldn't do that for me - only to their standard location in the hall. When you have your phone connected the Openreach contractor will put the master socket on the patress box where the external cable comes in but at a later date you can request the master socket be moved - for which you may, or may not (like me), have to pay.

Hope this helps.
 
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