Home Automation - Running Cat-5 and Coax for house-wide broadband.

Question:
What kind of dollars are we talking about to place network drops for both RJ-11 (45?) and Coax into 5 or 6 rooms of an existing home, running them all to a central switch or Hub, for the purposes of not just running a central server but also for allowing broadband access from any room in the house?

I am figuring $200 for the switch/hub and perhaps $500 for the wiring and hardware/cabling..are my estimates too low?

Thanks.

Actually, you can get some cheap hubs for less than $50. For $200 you can get a nice one. If the $500 you are figuring is wire and hardware cost only, then that seems like a reasonable ballpark. How many rooms and how many feet of cable? I assume you are doing the labor yourself.

Hi...actually, to get that professionally-installed look, I'll most likely contract with a guy who recently did work here at the company I work for.

I've added a bit to my budget....I'm going to go with one of those all-in-one Hub/Firewall boxes designed for multi-user use of a broadband connection. I'll have the cable company run the broadband drop into the basement where I'll locate the hub and "modem", plug that into this box, and then run the rest of my wires from the basement to the various drops. Its only a 4-port now so I'll most likely wire the 4 bedrooms on the 2nd floor, 2 rooms on the first floor, and two drops in the basement.

The device only has 4 10/100 ports right now, but I doubt I'll need all the rooms wired at once...

I know the true cost will be in the labor.
I'm just trying to estimate reasonably. :)

I figure right now the RJ jacks are enough.....I'll have the cable company wire up the bedrooms for cable TV, but I've been told that the cable company will only run 1 dedicated Data wire into the house...hence, the basement location where I'll locate the hub, etc.

Yep, you have the right idea. I would run wire to *every* room in the house while the guy is there running wire, because it always costs more to add it later due to labor. You could just pull to boxes and put blank faceplates where you don't need it right now. That saves the cost of the RJ45 jacks, and if you someday find that you want a computer, or TV, in the kitchen all you have to do is add the terminations and hook it up in your central wiring location. Wire is cheap, especially by the 1000' spool. I would also recommend running 4 pair minimum, and preferably 6 pair cables. Two pair will go to the 10/100baseT, and that gives you two or four more pair for phone lines and/or spares. It's always nice to have a spare pair if one pair goes bad, rather than have to pull a new cable.

Hmmm......ok, if I have 6 pair that essentially means I've got the ability to seperate that one wire into 3 taps, right?

And that wire can be anything......two can go to the pc's, leaving the other 4 for...well..for whatever. :)

Hmmm...while we're on the subject, would there be anything other than the RJ's that I'd really need right now? I think I would just run right now to basic single-jack faceplates.........

hello HeadRusch,
looks as though u have things well in hand on this project. i think your estaments r in the ball park, and u have thought this out.
u will have a nuce instluation whin it is all done. good luck wioth your project.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by headrusch@earthlink.net:
Hmmm......ok, if I have 6 pair that essentially means I've got the ability to seperate that one wire into 3 taps, right?

And that wire can be anything......two can go to the pc's, leaving the other 4 for...well..for whatever. :)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Right. 2 pair (4 wires) for each network connection. Or, 1 pair (2 wires) per phone line. So with 6 pair cables you could have 2 computers and 2 phone lines in one location. Maybe you'd use a pair for an intercom. Whatever.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Hmmm...while we're on the subject, would there be anything other than the RJ's that I'd really need right now? I think I would just run right now to basic single-jack faceplates.........<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No, nothing really, unless you are also running coax for cable TV, then you might want a coax connector, but that could be added later when needed. Oh, do not forget to label the wires clearly and distinctly at both ends. It makes life much easier in a couple years when you want to move things around.