Cat 7 Cables - What else do I need to start building a high tech home

Joanne77 · Jun 24, 2017

Hi, A few questions from a complete novice if I may. I’m in the process of having all of my internal walls replaced and my odd job man has suggested running cat 5 cables and cables for a cctv system should I ever wish to fit one. He has run the cables before as he used to be an odd job man at a university. Having done some research post his suggestion I am of the impression that Cat 7 cables would be better. I have a couple of questions 1. How do I work out how much cable to order? (is it run in single lengths?). 2. What else do I need to order to connect everything together?
Other information which may be relevant I live quite far from the exchange and my wireless doesn’t cover my entire flat and I would like it to ideally. Also I have a Nu-heat underfloor heating system – I know at the time I was offered a gizmo to plug into my router which would have meant I could control it from an app, could it be connected to whatever the new system ends up being?

Many thanks for any help/advice you are able to offer ad sorry for the complete lack of knowledge.

Joanne

bill001g · Jun 24, 2017

Cat7 generally has no purpose. It is not a fully certified standard. cat6a can run 10gbit. There really is no advantage to cat7 that I can see. The vendors talk about less crosstalk etc etc but it really does not make any difference. For things that will run faster than 10gbit cat7 is not good enough and there is a new standard being worked on.

It is highly unlikely you can even think to utilize 10gbit. The bottleneck at these speeds are not the network the disk subsystem tend to limit you unless you used specially designed server.

Unless you have plans to use 10gbit on day 1 I would put cat6a in the walls and use cat5e keystone since those are easily replaced. You can also in many cases use normal cat6 cable. Cat6 cable will run 10g up to 50 meters which is much less than most single runs in a house.

If you do not plan to stay there for many years until 10g becomes common in equipment I would run cat5e and save the money. 1gbit is more than enough for most things you will likely be using. Even 1gbit is hard to use unless you have servers in your house that transfer lots of data for internet most people only get a tiny fraction of 1gbit.

Sedivy · Jun 24, 2017

The data consumed yearly is rising in great amounts though. 4k streaming netflix is a perfect example. Who knew 10 years ago we'd need that much bandwidth, and not just if you were into crazy torrenting. This is everyone, everyday. If he's replacing internal walls, that's all hard wiring that's not easy to replace or change, and is bound to stay there for decades. In such cases I would in fact get best possible cable around. I don't even know how cat7 is different so can't comment, but would go for cat6 at least, just so you don't have to do the re-wiring all over again 10 years down the road.

iamacow · Jun 24, 2017

Good luck finding Cat7 cables. Cat6 550mhz is all you need for 10Gbps connection over an entire building. At my work we are slowly replacing old Cat5 with new Cat6 and does it make a difference just keeping 1Gbps connection. We got one switch that is 10Gbps and CAT6 gets the job job running it about 200 feet.

CAT6 and 5 1000foot spools cost nearly the same. Why by 5 if 6 is better and the same price?

kanewolf · Jun 24, 2017

Why by 5 if 6 is better and the same price?

Because cat6 or cat6a is more difficult to terminate and meet specifications. Somebody that is building a house is probably going to have the electrical or general contractor terminate the low voltage cable. It will probably be poorly done. If you are building a home and want it done right, then subcontract the low voltage installation to a low voltage/data cable installation specialist. Get a printed report on every termination that proves it meets the spec you are trying to meet.

Sedivy · Jun 24, 2017

It will probably be poorly done. If you are building a home and want it done right, then subcontract the low voltage installation to a low voltage/data cable installation specialist. Get a printed report on every termination that proves it meets the spec you are trying to meet.

Huh did not know this. I'm going to remember this for when I need it.

iamacow · Jun 24, 2017

Wha??? Same 8 Wires, Same way to make a connector. I don't see the problem. Yeah its thicker gauge but nothing changes the way the RJ45 connector is put on.

kanewolf · Jun 24, 2017

To meet cat6a spec the amount of untwisted cable is very short. That makes it difficult to reliably terminate.

Joanne77 · Jun 25, 2017

Thanks for the replies so far, Im going to ask the question slightly differently if I may and probably the way I should have asked it in the first place.

If you were taking down all the walls in your flat (measuring approx 15 meters x 6 meters (plus another 7 meters x 3 meters for the garden) what system/cabling /equipment would you put in?

Be as ambitious/aspitional/conservative as you see fit. I guess I just need to understand my options and as another poster pointed out once the walls are done its a pain to cable again. I dont have enough technical knowledge to take a little bit from one suggestion and a little from another.

If you think I should start this as a new topic just let me know.

Other relevant information.

it is possible to cable under the floor as gaps have been left for electric cabling, also I forgot to say earlier I have a NAS drive and a SONOS system.

I have been looking at the Loxone website would they be good people to trust or is that way above my needs?

Thanks for any help/ideas you are able to offer and most importantly thankyo for your time

kanewolf · Jun 25, 2017

I would put a smoke detector style WIFI access point in the ceiling somewhere central. I would put ethernet in for cameras (front door, garden, etc). I would pull a structured wiring cable to every room. Bring a structured wire from your utility access for your ISP to tie into.

Bring all the cabling back to a closet other out-of-the-way place. Add power in the out-of-the-way place if necessary.
Terminate all the ethernet to a patch panel all the coax to a patch panel. LABEL EVERYTHING AT BOTH ENDS.
Add a POE switch for the ethernet (power for the WIFI access point and cameras). Add a high bandwidth distribution amp if the coax is used.

I would also run some speaker wires to the exterior for music in the garden. You could bring that back to your patch panels or run to some other location. Put speaker wires in for surround sound in your media room.

Joanne77 · Jun 26, 2017

Thanks so much Kanewolf for your expertise and taking the time to reply. I will follow your suggestion. Are there any particular brands you favour when it comes to ceiling routers or patch panels?

kanewolf · Jun 26, 2017

Ubiquiti UNIFI acsess points -- https://unifi-hd.ubnt.com/
Panduit cable management
Get a basic cable tester -- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CI9NRM/ for future tracing.
You may want a POE switch to power the access points and any cameras. If you go the POE switch route, then you need to be sure the cameras follow the POE standard and not a proprietary POE implementation.

Joanne77 · Jun 26, 2017

Thankyou Kanewolf, your help is much appreciated.

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