Hi guys, bear with me. Networking is not my best tech skill. I have a few questions regarding network topography and equipment. I have been using powerline networking for a while but seized an opportunity to add some CAT 5E cabling to the home, hopefully the start of something better.
I have a 3 story home (basement, main level, and upstairs level). There has never been a clear path from the attic to the basement to pull wires. An opportunity presented itself last week during some remodeling work where the chimney chase walls were opened up and I asked the electrician doing other work if he would be willing to pull network cables from the basement up through the chimney chase all the way up to the attic. The idea being that I could hopefully drop ethernet cables into 3 upstairs rooms with a possibility of doing 2 more upstairs later on. On the main level, one cable pulled up from the basement to the TV area on this level, and then a couple of ports in my unfinished basement where I tinker with computers and have a home server. He did not have time to run everything where I wanted it but I knew this would be the only time I could ever do this cable pull from the top to bottom level, a backbone I guess you would call it. It was really difficult but he got it done.
This is where I need help and advice. I now have a bundle of four CAT 5E cables sitting in my basement and my attic. These are just raw uncut cables on both ends. I asked why four cables instead of one and the answer was something to the effect of he was trained to always pull multiple on a difficult wire pull like this for both backup and future use. I am confused as to what I should do next. Should there be a panel as a junction point in both the basement and attic or in one or the other? Some kind of switch? The attic really needs a passive solution, nothing powered up there as I'm in Georgia and its deadly hot up there in the summer. Should only one cable be attached or all four? For the runs to the individual locations what are these connected to on each end. The idea here is to have a single home LAN where I can plug a router/modem into any one of the ports and every port can see it. Sorry but I'm a little confused as to my next step and what to say I want done when the time comes.
Any help and advice is greatly appreciated!!!
I have a 3 story home (basement, main level, and upstairs level). There has never been a clear path from the attic to the basement to pull wires. An opportunity presented itself last week during some remodeling work where the chimney chase walls were opened up and I asked the electrician doing other work if he would be willing to pull network cables from the basement up through the chimney chase all the way up to the attic. The idea being that I could hopefully drop ethernet cables into 3 upstairs rooms with a possibility of doing 2 more upstairs later on. On the main level, one cable pulled up from the basement to the TV area on this level, and then a couple of ports in my unfinished basement where I tinker with computers and have a home server. He did not have time to run everything where I wanted it but I knew this would be the only time I could ever do this cable pull from the top to bottom level, a backbone I guess you would call it. It was really difficult but he got it done.
This is where I need help and advice. I now have a bundle of four CAT 5E cables sitting in my basement and my attic. These are just raw uncut cables on both ends. I asked why four cables instead of one and the answer was something to the effect of he was trained to always pull multiple on a difficult wire pull like this for both backup and future use. I am confused as to what I should do next. Should there be a panel as a junction point in both the basement and attic or in one or the other? Some kind of switch? The attic really needs a passive solution, nothing powered up there as I'm in Georgia and its deadly hot up there in the summer. Should only one cable be attached or all four? For the runs to the individual locations what are these connected to on each end. The idea here is to have a single home LAN where I can plug a router/modem into any one of the ports and every port can see it. Sorry but I'm a little confused as to my next step and what to say I want done when the time comes.
Any help and advice is greatly appreciated!!!