Here is what my apartment layout looks like:
The router will be where the arrow points, the little jack icons are (shockingly enough) where I want ethernet jacks in each room.
The apartment is currently being renovated, and many of the walls have not yet been constructed, so I am planning to wire the house while I have the chance. I will be hiring someone to do it.
The largest distance between the router and a jack would be approximately 10 meters (including the length required to go up over the ceiling and down on the other side). The max speed I am intending to have for internet is 1 gigabit/s, so the cable should be able to transfer at that speed.
From my really basic research because I know nothing about this sort of thing it looks like Cat6 cable will work both for that length and for the speed I want.
Unfortunately in this country (Japan), the folks I have hired to do the work are not too knowledgeable about wiring for internet, and I want to make sure I can clearly tell them what I want/need so that I don't have to rely on wireless.
From my understanding I will need:
- Enough cat6 cable to connect each of the rooms
- LAN jacks for each room
- I think I will also need 4 LAN jacks right next to the router, one for each room, so that I can connect my router to each jack separately?
For the sake of completeness, the internet provider will give me a router that will hook up to the telephone wire, and I will hook up a wireless router (with wired ports as well) to the router they provide. I think I need to hook up a different port for each room I want to use the internet in, but that's where I'm stuck.
Here is a digram on how I think this process should work:
I may be wrong on some/all of this. What I would like to know is what specifically do I need to ask for in order to have working wired internet in everyone room of my apartment from a single router coming out of a phone line connected to a wireless router?
Best Answer
This is my recommendation and similar to what I have in my home.
Since you have the walls open, this is the perfect time to do this. Don't limit yourself to what you need now, think about the future. With the push for streaming and internet connected devices, almost every room will probably have at least one internet connected device. I recommend putting drop points anywhere you plan on having a desk, tv or phone. Also put drop points where you think desk or tv's would be nice.
As for cable, Cat6 will do but I recommend using Cat6A (or sometimes called Cat6e). This cable will handle 10gig+ so in the future (5 years) when 1gig is not enought you will not have to pull new cable. Though at 10 meters, even Cat6 will handle 10gig, but my mindset is put the best in the wall since it is so hard to remove.
As for installing the cable, no sharp bends and no stretching of the cable. Similar rules for coax cable. Most installers now how to install that, just tell them to treat the install the same.
As for the drops. Have the installers either put a one gang electrical box or a low voltage box where you want the jacks installed. For the jacks, here you can save a little money and use Cat5e jacks. If you need more bandwidth in the future, these are easy to upgrade to Cat6(a/e). They have either plates with a jack integrated or whats called a keystone plate. With a keystone plate, you add modules for what you want into the plate. Modules can include telephone, coax, audio or ethernet. Personally in my house I use the keystone plates and most rooms I combine all the low voltage requirements in one box (most being coax and ethernet).
For the other end of the run, I personally would have them go to a closet or cupboard that has power. The router does not need to be where the cables all run to and I find this to be a cleaner solution. In the closet, place a network switch to handle connecting all the devices. Also the network switch does not have to be as big as all the drops in your house, only as big as the drops that are currently being used. I'm assuming you want the router next to your TV where your coax is. Just add a drop there and pug your router into it. The switch in the closet will handle splitting it to the rest of your house. And this will also give 3 or so ports for the devices around your TV. This is how it is setup in my house and all 3 of those extra ports are used. One for the TV, BD Player and Media Streamer.
As for the closet where the end of the run is, if you only have 6 or less drops you can use a keystone plate with ethernet modules. If you have more than 6, I would recommend putting in a patch panel. They come in sizes as small as 8 ports up to any size you would need for an apartment. And with short half meter patch cables, connect the panel to the switch (which can be hung on the wall near the panel).