Hey guys... I'm running some network cable in my new house that I'm building before they get the sheetrock up. It'll save me about $500-600 to do it myself so I'm all about it. I've got a buddy who is a pretty experienced electrician with me to help me so no worries about messing up. I was wondering...another buddy of mine told me to go ahead and get cat 5e cable....so where is the best place around Houston to buy it??? I'll need about 750' to run all the rooms I want to run. I'm in the NW part of Houston by Spring/Klein and I don't want to drive an hour to save $20, but if you guys have a suggestion I'd be glad to hear it. BTW: Unfortunatly I did not plan well enough ahead and will be running the wire tomorrow so an internet order is out of the question...I need a Houston Brick and Mortar store.
You can also buy Cat5e at Home Depot or Fry's. It's usually a bit more expensive, but it's more convenient. The stuff at Home Depot is pretty good too. Fry's has a few different brands if I'm not mistaken. Another place would be Altex. Do you know how to wire punchdown terminals and such? It's really easy, and I'm sure your friend can help.
Altex Electronics € 18670 Northwest Fwy, Houston, TX 77065 Phone: (281) 469-8886 The one in Austin helped me out when I needed some materials to rebuild a friends PC. I know they have Cat 5 cable in bulk...
Yeah, I've got a buddy coming in a few weeks to actually terminate the wires, he's got all the tools. This is a team job!
Excuse the mess on this paste, but should this suit my purposes? Home > Online Store > Electrical > Wire > Datacom Wire per roll 1000' Gray 24-4 Twisted Pair Cat 5e Gigabit Datacom Wire Features: 1000 Megabit per second ultra high speed data transmission 16 Megabit/Second Token Ring 155 Megabit/Second ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) T1 Carrier Typical applications include 100 Megabit/Second Ethernet More Information Name Price: 49.97 Qty. 1000' Add to Cart 1000' Gray 24-4 Twisted Pair Cat 5e Gigabit Datacom Wire Model: #2133458E SKU: #709456 49.97
Oops, three posts in a row. On a side note: Do any of you have suggestions for a good, yet reasonably priced router that will serve my purposes for hooking up to my cable modem to get connected to the internet AND is a decent wireless router too. My goal is to have plugs for my desktops and to be able to go wireless on my laptop. I can deal with only having 4 wired ports on it because I've got a decent hub laying around that I can split from one of the ports on the router.
If it was a Mac setup I would suggest AirPort extreme, but I kinda doubt you are using a Mac... not many do, except me and Lynus and a couple of others...
If you can hardwire, I recommend hardwiring. Until wireless can transmit through walls with no loss of signal, I don't recommend it for home networking unless you have a small home under 1000 sq ft or a loft with big open spaces. I'm using wireless and while it works well, i would rather have a cable hooked to my laptop to ensure a good, fast connection. It's personal preference but you will have trouble transmitting throughout a large home, walls and upstairs. My wireless works best in close vicinity to the transmitter. Good luck!
Mac, for what you want.. You can get a Wireless Broadband Router.. I havent used any of them before, but I just looked real quick and found a SMC 4 port wireless broadband router.... Below are the specifications of the router, lifted directly from SMC's documentation. Instant Internet sharing for cable and DSL subscribers, ISDN and even 56k modem users. Static IP, Dynamic IP, PPPoE, PPTP, Dial-up networking 11 Mbps wireless operation for maximum mobility use. Firewall security against hackers. Simultaneous Internet access for up to 252 PCs on the LAN using 1 IP address. LAN: 3 port 10/100 Mbps (RJ45) WAN: 1 port broadband uplink (RJ-45) for Cable/DSL modem 1 RS232 port for dial-up and ISDN Built-in print server. Supports Win95/98/NT/2000,UNIX LPR Built-in DHCP server, VPN, NAT Firewall Protection Platform independent – works with PCs or Macs Supports IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3u and IEEE 802.11b standards. price will be more expensiv ethan a standard wireless access point or wired broadband router...but if you want to mix wired and wireless...thats the way to go. do a google for "Wireless Broadband Router" you will find all you need. compare and shop around...
btw, I agree with rHEAD...go wired if at all possible...seeing as you have the oppportunity to do it before the house is built...by all measn do it... also, the wires you found will be perfect, they have gigabit support which is the next generation of network speed...
Supermac34 -- That cable sounds fine. As far as routers and such, I'm partial to Linksys for home/SOHO stuff. Always have had great luck with it. My current DSL Router is a Linksys.
Like Mulder, I recommend Altex on 290 or Frys. Home Depot might be the cheapest though. I believe they sell it in boxes of 1000'. The most expensive thing youll end up buying for the job is the RJ45 crimping tool. I have one and it cost me about $50.
My one concern about the wires I found is that they don't tell if it is solid or stranded, which my friend says stay away from stranded, harder to work with.
I havent seen anyone selling stranded in ages....afaik, almost all cables you will be looking at will be solid...and technically, to conform with firecodes, you may need to get plenum, if you care about stuff like that, you may want to check into that. Vengeance is right about Linksys, I use Linksys exclusively, and have always had great luck with them... Im lookin at Linksys.com now, and they have a number of solutions that will do what you want... I would go with Wireless 802.11G for future standards upgrades...it is a little more expensive, but if you buy it now, you will be ready when it becomes more fully deployed. Readhere for a further comparison on which standard you might want. and go here to compare the various products that Linksys has to offer.
