reply not directly against post of Geoffery - still learning the posting system here:
I ran CAT5 from my switch but I need too many points in my office. I wanted to keep things centralized, but gave up in the end. Ripped out the CAT5e-cabling apart from a handful for my POE gear in the office, which I want to keep powered from my central networking area due to cost of UPS, heat (no aircon here) and just because it made sense. But I ran a fiber optic to a GBit switch in my office and it is just a much cleaner solution.
Another aspect that is getting into play is the cost of running several CAT5e (or higher) through the house. In the US, cable is relatively cheap. In Ecuador I pay a small fortune for a standard box of CAT5e, let alone better spec. It is cheaper to import a small switch with SFP, plus SFP modules + fiber, than to buy cable + install network points in the room. The economy of it is pretty shocking. The price of a Gbit SFP enabled switch is so low now, that in my setup here, I can get the network up and running cheaper on fiber than on copper by placing switches in each room. Disadvantage is additional UPS needed.
Wiebos example is exactly what i was refering to with the need for expanded capacity in the future when you don't run enough lines for the bandwidth, due to the cost of copper and the need of higher bandwidth it made sense to go to a single high bandwidth fiber run and then run a switch to make more ports for devices in a central location.
by running a single high capacity fiber link (I'm guessing 40gb/s link @wiebo ? ) and then splitting off to copper there is less total runs of cable and length of cable needed reducing installation costs.
even in multi million dollar installations where the site is a blank slab it's not uncommon to run high capacity fiber links from one location to another instead of copper (especially over 80 meters or where there could be electrical interference from fridge compressors or microwave interference)
Does that Krone cable have separator between each twisted pair? This cable doesn't have that and would seem like it would be a mega PITA to crimp. The "conductor separator" already adds difficulty to a crimp. Punch downs aren't much worse though.
@Geoffery_Gordon I like his points he made. I just dislike how he, and the other individual, are stating use Cat5. There's absolutely no reason to use Cat5 these days over Cat5e for any reason, unless it's much more expensive in your country.
Edit: You also need to consider the cost of the networking equipment that can handle fiber connectors (all of our fiber connections at work are LC Duplex), if you'll need someone to terminate the fiber etc. It's much more cost friendly to run copper and the benefits these days, in my opinion, outweigh the cost to run fiber.
KRONE, has a cross shaped insulator that separates out all the pairs. For each pair, the sheathe has that toothed shape to it, so the conductors are separated by as much air as possible.
Cat6 should be good enough for anyone. It's what I was running for Florida Power and Light's offices all over Florida. If you really want to go crazy, I would get Fiber, but the moment you run fiber into your home instead of copper, your costs go through the roof. Both in your conductors, and your transmit and receivers. Your network cards, will all have to be fiber, or you will need to get a transceiver to change the fiber to copper.
I would run a small fiber cable from outside to the Demarcation point in the house. That way if you get FTTH at any time, you are already wired for it. Everywhere else, I would put Cat6 or Krone Cat6A (I really like that cable.) The only weird bit about Krone cable, is the punch tool is their own design.
My situation is probably a bit unique in that I have most of my network on the 1st floor (with ground floor only an AP, plus 2 CAT5e lead to the parent-in-law's blueray & FireTV stuff). Cat6 and higher are insanely expensive here.
Hit up Amazon real quick and 1000ft CAT5e (typical bulk box) is about 50 bucks. Here, we're talking 180 bucks (USD). Same brand for CAT6 on the same site, 60 bucks. That's no difference worth wasting time on, just get the 6 really.. In Ecuador, that would be 300 bucks right there. That's close enough to double the cost to make it a non-starter for home use.
Krone, I cannot even buy that here (and I agree, that's a great quality product, when I lived in the UK that was my brand of choice even though it cost more).
My setup is using CAT5e mostly, but with a fibre from my managed switch to my office (unmanaged for now) switch to then use shorter patch leads to the gear I have here. Absolutely fair point on the cost of having fiber network cards, for me, that would not be an option. But bearing in mind I can ask someone to throw 2 SFP modules and a fiber in their backpack, with the insane pricing I'm dealing with locally, small & light stuff vs a bulk CAT6 from the US, it is driven by that factor too :)
That would be cool, based out of Quito (capital of the country). Off to Chile again on Tuesday (not doing any network stuff for my job these days, but it's been long enough to get interested in it again). Many years ago I used to run a web site (Cable Modems UK) but due to various circumstances, including a move to a different continent, not doing that any more.
I'm in Australia Cat3 is still used in some places it is being rolled out as part of FTTN our new NBN network with only one pair being used for data.....
so don't knock the Cat3 It is apparently good enough for next generation broadband around here....
(I myself have fiber because i got FTTH in the rental I'm in but that's still limited to a maximum of 100mb/s (with a 300GB limit before dropping to 256kb/s ) despite the fact the hardware is able to handle 5gb on the fiber and 1gb on the copper adaptor.)
As long as ISPs think they can act like jerks and rip off customers, yes it is. No mather how fast the tec might be, as long as there is a cap there is also a limit on speed. A contract with a datacap should be considered a slow line with "limmited boost speed".
The reality is there are 250mb/s plans avail wholesale but no retailer wants to touch them as they don't have the higher T1/T2 capacity to back up the links.
yep it only has to handle 25mb/s to be "high speed broadband" in Australia they are literally using the existing two pair copper with only one active pair to deliver the last mile of services in the new FTTN plan.
Our goal under the multi-technology mix model is to utilise a range of technologies that provide our customers, phone and internet service providers, with access to very high speeds. At a minimum our goal is for everybody to have access to a service that provides 25Mbps downstream by 2020, but ultimately, nbn aims to deliver at least 50Mbps download speeds to 90% of fixed line premises by 2020.
there is a few ways they are delivering services from HFC and FTTP to FTTN and multipoint fixed wireless
Its ok ill just build my own pfsense router and connect multiple services as wan connections with routing tables to allow additional bandwidth and outage fall over.
(οΌβΈα) 25Mbps? That's some lofty goal. I pay for 25Mbps right now. I remember when 50Mbps was the standard, before these fucking 10 tiers of speed were introduced.
I moved from the UK to Ecuador. When I got here, it was a corporate 64kbit/second ADSL on horrendous phone lines (twisted together bare wires outside, not the way to go..)
Used to have cable at the then highest speed of 10Mbit/second down, 512kbit/second up - since a couple of years, NetLife moved in and FTTH came along. I snapped up a 2 year pre-pay that was equivalent to about 50 bucks a month @100Mbit synchronous for the country. Quite lucky :)
They changed from EPON to GPON recently which I'm not too happy about, but speeds have recovered after the outages that caused for a while. Backup line does the job on cable now @lower speeds.
The US is a bit odd on internet access. In some places it is a lot better than in others, but then, the US is huge :)