House refurbishment - Cat 6 routing and termination

[viennese]

Hello,

I am having a house refurbishment including installing Cat 6 cabling in all the rooms (dual module faceplates). I have also ordered BT FTTP (max 900Mb), for January 2021, meaning that the internal works will already have been completed prior to the engineer's arrival.

I can get my builder to route a length of flexible conduit through the walls and under the flooring (with a piece of string or old cable inside) ready for the BT engineer to pull the new fibre cable through to wherever the ONT needs to be.

The issue is that I cannot decide where to terminate all the cables. My office is in the front, small bedroom upstairs. I have three options:

1) Have everything terminate into the bedroom - ONT, router, patch panel and switch.

2) ONT and router in the bedroom. Patch panel and switch in the cupboard under the stairs so all the cables terminate there too. A longer Cat 6 cable will be required to hook up the router to the PP and switch (allow 6m).

3) Only the router in the bedroom. ONT, patch panel and switch under the stairs. Not sure if this is advisable given that the router will not be next to the ONT. Will the ~6m cable needed make a huge difference? Do they both have to be together?

With option 3 I guess the router could, in theory, be anywhere in the house as long as it's next to an RJ45 socket, correct?

Originally I wanted a simple solution (without the need for a patch panel) but thinking more into it, maybe I should do this 'properly' as I only get one chance.

Thanks for any advice in advanced.

 

[Avalon]

Do it right, do it once. That’s likely conduit and pull cord with a patch panel, for option 3 the 6m feed from ONT to router is irrelevant as it’s over CAT6, assuming your termination isn’t awful, you can do 10Gb easily, let alone the 900Mbit your ISP is offering.

 

[bremen1874]

I wouldn't want any network kit in a bedroom (unless it was inside a built-in cupboard). Why can't it all go out of the way in your location under the stairs? You aren't going to have any cable lengths that would cause any problems (nominally 100m).

Run network cables at the same time that'll allow for central ceiling-mounted wireless access points.

 

[Savan_P]

What is driving the router to be in the bedroom?

If it just wifi signal, then why not have all the network gear under the stairs tucked away, then just have one Cat-6 cable to the bedroom and put a WIFI access point in there (Ubiquiti ).

 

[viennese]

What is driving the router to be in the bedroom?

If it just wifi signal, then why not have all the network gear under the stairs tucked away, then just have one Cat-6 cable to the bedroom and put a WIFI access point in there (Ubiquiti ).

No particular reason only that is there the office is and the room is kind of in a central location. Plus I can use the extra ports at the back. But you're right as the ONT is going to be in the office bedroom, the router can be located anywhere in the house as all cables will run to the under stairs cupboard.

TBH I haven't researched into WAP. I may need one or two if I find black spots. Are Ubiquiti the ones to go for? I'll probably get a 24 port PoE switch.

 

[Avalon]

Unifi are great AP’s at a fair price with easy management and decent ongoing support.

 

[bremen1874]

I'll probably get a 24 port PoE switch.

I wouldn't bother with a PoE switch at all if it's just going to be powering a couple of APs.

 

[Avalon]

I wouldn't bother with a PoE switch at all if it's just going to be powering a couple of APs.

Spoil sport

I agree a 24 port PoE sounds overkill, but then you can use things like VoIP handsets and CCTV phones with a single cable, as well as pulling power for small devices like Pi's etc. I quite like the old (read have been re-branded by Ubiquiti but are identical) Tough Switch TS-8-Pro which is now known as the EdgeSwitch 8 XP, for under £50 used, they're hard to argue with for a fully managed switch with ongoing support/updates.

 

[viennese]

Yeah maybe a switch with a 50/50 split You're correct though, any PoE devices will be for APs and CCTVs. And for the latter, I will probably feed one cable up to the loft and hook it up to another small 4-port PoE switch for the cameras. That should work?

This is my first network build. I'm only just discovering the power and possibilities of a networked home! I mean getting everything to talk to each other and having access to everything is mind blowing! I am a simple folk after all

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I would get a conduit installed to have everything installed under the stairs including the ONT.

However I would also add a couple of extra ports added to the office in case the engineer is unable to pull the fibre through to the conduit and you have to have the ONT installed in the office. You would then just use the extra CAT6 connection to connect the ONT to the router under the stairs.

You can use BTs or whoever’s router to assign IPs but I would disable the WiFi and use dedicated access points for all the WiFi duties (like Ubiquiti). A single Ubiquiti AP can cover all but the largest houses or those with the thickest walls when mounted centrally on the upper floor ceiling.

The standard Ubiquiti disks are meant to be ceiling mounted, they have other types of AP for other uses such as an omnidirectional ap or in wall ap or outdoor ap.

 

[viennese]

That's a good point. If I assign the SSIDs to be the same on router (BT) and AP, will my devices connect seamlessly between the two? So place the AP on the landing ceiling rather than the hall ceiling? I guess higher up is better.

Just discovered that there's a mass shortage of 6U 300mm racks and no date of when more will arrive

 

[b0rn2sk8]

The unifi Disks project their signal in a mushroom shape. The signal behind them is poor.

You want to go in the landing ceiling so it’s projects down to fill the house. If there are any gaps you can then use other APs to fill them where needed.

I think for best results you need to use devices from one manufacturer for the handoff to work seamlessly, so disabling the WiFi on the ISP router is your best bet and just rely on APs for WiFi.

 

[Andrew G]

From a novice point of few I asked on here May 2019 time and ended installing something of a half way house. I didn't have room to install a patch panel 2/4/6...U cabinet so ended up running cat 6 from a central place (bedroom) because of a convenient void to get downstairs. I used Marshall-Tufflex conduit boxes, then faceplates and modules to terminate all the runs (Cat 6 rigid cable). Bought some pre made patch leads to go from faceplates to the switch. I have one Ubiquiti AP point on the ceiling at the top of the stairs which is PoE'ed from the included adaptor you get in the box. So far it has worked flawlessly (although some more cable tiding wouldn't harm).

https://ibb.co/f2N475y

 

[viennese]

I am the novice now This is the exact set up I was thinking of initially as my office room is small and didn't want to put a rack in there.

I just had the electrician round and my other idea of putting everything in the cupboard under the stairs won't work now as the routing of all the cables out hit a few obstacles. So now I'm having my rack and network stuff up in the loft. At least there will be no size issues and all cables can go anywhere easily.

 

[bremen1874]

With the loft, consider summer temperatures and the maximum operating temperatures of the equipment.

 

[viennese]

The unifi Disks project their signal in a mushroom shape. The signal behind them is poor.

You want to go in the landing ceiling so it’s projects down to fill the house. If there are any gaps you can then use other APs to fill them where needed.

I think for best results you need to use devices from one manufacturer for the handoff to work seamlessly, so disabling the WiFi on the ISP router is your best bet and just rely on APs for WiFi.

You're right! I did a bit of research on Ubiquiti and I'm close to being sold on joining the UniFi family All the gear looks awesome! So I take it I can replace my BT Smart Hub 2 router with the....Ubiquiti USG? I don't actually know what I to get yet lol. I've been watching all these YT videos of the ultimate UniFi setups and I think most of the things I don't think I need because I'm a noob

I definitely need a patch panel, switch, router and an AP. Oh wait there's something called a Dream Machine. Is that the router equivalent?

Sorry, I'll research more into this!!!

 

[viennese]

With the loft, consider summer temperatures and the maximum operating temperatures of the equipment.

Thanks for that . Hopefully I won't have too many devices that will cook. It's not going to have many devices right now.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

With the loft, consider summer temperatures and the maximum operating temperatures of the equipment.

Agreed but most will be rated to 40c or more, lofts only get hot for a few days a year and it isn’t normally sustained. If it gets really hot it’s not difficult to route fresh air in to keep things cool. Depending on your under-stairs set up and equipment you may also need to vent it.

I have my kit in the loft but it’s also vented which keeps the temperature down.

You're right! I did a bit of research on Ubiquiti and I'm close to being sold on joining the UniFi family All the gear looks awesome! So I take it I can replace my BT Smart Hub 2 router with the....Ubiquiti USG? I don't actually know what I to get yet lol. I've been watching all these YT videos of the ultimate UniFi setups and I think most of the things I don't think I need because I'm a noob

I definitely need a patch panel, switch, router and an AP. Oh wait there's something called a Dream Machine. Is that the router equivalent?

Sorry, I'll research more into this!!!

Most will say on here that Ubiquiti routers aren’t great for advanced users but they’ll be better than your ISP one and far more than enough for a home user. However, for a normal home user I’d suggest just running the ISP router for now as it’s just not necessary and they cost a lot of money. The USG is EOL now.

The dream machine is more of an ISP router replacement, it’s an access point, controller and switch all in one unit.

You don’t necessary need to have the controller up and running all the time unless you want real-time monitoring. You also don’t need to use Ubiquiti hardware to run the controller, I run mine off a NAS and others run theirs on a Pi. I’ve not actually looked at it since I set it up though. You can just set up the APs using the phone app and call it done.

You can also save a lot of money using a switch from another brand. Im all for spending where it counts like APs but fancy switches add very little for a home network.

 

[viennese]

Thanks for your input, much appreciated! Noted. I have calmed down now

Is the controller just for monitoring, like with cloud hosting? Maybe something I don't need right now.

Like you suggest, I'll just stick to the BT router and get things up and running first. I can always upgrade over time! But you're right about switches, I just need a simple one to serve all the outlets.

 

[JohnStewart]

I did a similar project earlier this year just before I had the BT fibre 900 installed.

I installed a twin faceplate in each room, and ran 2 Cat 6a cables (solid core, not stranded) from each room to the loft. In some rooms I'm currently only using one of the connections and the second is there as a spare.
The router is now in the loft, connected to the ONT (downstaits next to the BT master socket) via one of the faceplates. The router is connected to an 8 port £20 gigabit switch which in turn is connected to the faceplates in each room.
I used the tool-less keystone jacks both in the faceplates and the loft, as it made terminating each cable very quick and reliable (only had to redo one of them where one wire touched the metal jack casing). I bought pre-made Cat 6a patch leads (under "2 each) to connect everything up.

I'll eventually get a better switch with more ports, but the unmanaged Netgear one is doing a fine job so far.