Renovating? Don't forget to network

By David Braue on 21 August 2008

Network Your Home

Been doing a bit of renovating? Before you install the plasterboard and start painting, consider spending an afternoon to run a local area network (LAN) through your house.

LANs are becoming increasingly useful as people amass larger and larger collections of music and video on a single network-attached storage (NAS) device. Pull video from the NAS using a device like the Apple TV or DViCO TVIX 5130 PVR and you've got an easy way to watch those videos on your big-screen TV — as long as you have a network port near it.

Wired LANs offer more certainty than a wireless LAN, which will give you serviceable 54Mbps speeds or several times that using newer 802.11n technology. But wireless slows down as more people use it at once, and it suffers horribly through walls and in buildings with steel. Try streaming HD video over wireless, and you'll be crying out for the speed that only a wired network offers. Wired networks also offer lower latency, which is crucial if you're planning to do VoIP or networked games.

Facing a large number of open walls during some recent renovation work, I decided it was worth a try. I had never installed a network before but wasn't keen to pay the electrician hundreds of dollars to do the honours (the going rate, I'm told, is around AU$150 per network port). With a bit of internet research and a whole lot of trial and error, I managed to do the whole thing. The following pages explain how.

DISCLAIMER | These instructions assume you have some basic DIY knowledge, and common sense. Make sure you turn off your electricity at the switchboard before messing around in the walls that have power points. Be careful when cutting, drilling, climbing ladders, and feeding crocodiles. Never stick a knife in the toaster. Wear appropriate safety gear, including clean underpants and sunscreen. Call your mother. And, of course, make sure you keep an ample supply of cold drinks handy. I think I've thought of everything. Basically, the following steps worked fine for me, but CNET and I accept no responsibility if you totally cock it up. Not that that's going to happen, since you're going to be very careful, pay good attention, and be very careful. Did I mention, be careful?

Topics: cabling, house, network, networking, cable, wire, hole, wall, wiring, plug

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Comments (11)

  • Early Grayce commented on 29/06/2009 19:57 Report abuse

    Funny how I find this article many months later and the comments attacking me for my safety massage has dissapeared from here out of embarassment.
    If it had not been for the attacks against me by cnet employees I would have only made two comments initially.

  • ACMA commented on 23/10/2008 15:31 Report abuse

    Just a reminder to people, cabling like this is ILLEGAL in australia unless registered with a cabling registrar. I'm an ACMA inspector and this practice should not be undertaken by un-qualified people.

    Phillip Carlson
    Inspector
    phillip.carlson@acma.gov.au
    Australian Communications and Media Authority

  • Havachat commented on 13/10/2008 02:05 Report abuse

    After 30+ years in the industry, I deal with cabling installed by untrained and unlicenced people on a regular basis and am amazed at the lengths they will go to to save a few dollars.
    If your house is at frame stage a reputable cabler won't charge too much to run the cable and you are protected by his training and experience.
    It works out lots cheaper than the insurance company rejecting a claim due to illegal wiring.
    Would you do your own elecrical installations as well?

  • Late@Night commented on 11/09/2008 00:56 Report abuse

    nice write-up. thx. (I think the cupboard can be neater - but I like the choice of locaiton) -- have somethign similar including the alarm and ADSL router in there

  • TVIXBox commented on 07/09/2008 06:16 Report abuse

    Personally, I think I would go with a <a href="http://www.tvixbox.com/product_details.php?product_id=23">DVICO M-6500A</a> rather than an 5130 if i I were you . . just my opinion.

  • spillmill commented on 03/09/2008 11:12 Report abuse

    You are talking about doing something which is illegal (putting in cat5 wall plates) for non-qualified persons.

  • holtiman commented on 29/08/2008 21:18 Report abuse

    It should probably be mentioned that it is illegal to complete any permanent telecommunications wiring without the appropriate cabling license/registration. No matter how d your DIY knowledge is. One reason for this is you need to ensure you have good segragation and quality to avoid induced voltages, which can cause dangerous situations.

  • aw123 commented on 22/08/2008 10:08 Report abuse

    I networked my entire house when I first bought it 2 years, with CAT 5e, I have network sockets in every room, and 4 in the living room, where my PS3 and XBOX 360 are hooked up, and I use them both too view media stored on various computers around the house. of the two I use the PS3 ALOT more because of its benefits when viewing a large number of movies or music as compared to the XBOX. both offer DivX and Xvid playback support and work really, really well.

    If you're going to network do it properly, the wireless in my house is solely used for browsing on laptops as it is far to slow and tempromental for any high bandwidth use.

  • Early Grayce commented on 21/08/2008 19:02 Report abuse

    My problem is that I see shabby wiring causing house fires on a regular basis with my work. Would you like to be the one that started the fire which killed your parents just because you thaught you knew what you were doing when you tried to squeese that extra plugpack into the powerboard.

  • Early Grayce commented on 21/08/2008 18:02 Report abuse

    The "Renovating? Don't forget to network" picture shows a fire hazzard. Don't look at this picture as what to do but as what not to do, power transformers and plugs present a safety hazzard when inserted into a socket the way the grey socket is.
    If there was a fire in David Braues house the insurance adjusters would have a field day with this one photo.

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