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Question

Which is better architecture for new home network

Mar 14, 2017 5:53PM PDT

Construction is underway on my new house and I need to design the wiring infrastructure. Basic plan is drops throughout the house terminating in a wiring closet with patch panel-->24 port switch-->router-->ISP service entry (Gigabit fiber). The issue is that with open floor plan/cathedral ceilings, the wiring closet is not central to the home (1800sq ft). I did plan 2+ drops in every room, so I could a) find best coverage range Wi-Fi router and position it in the off-center wiring closet and hope for the best -or- b) go with a wired-only router in the closet and put up Access Points as necessary -or- c) Feed from the ISP's modem in the closet to a central location and wireless router and then a return feed from the router to the switch - it would be 30' each direction for this last option, but I'd still be well within Cat 6A total distance for the wired portions. What think ye?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Nice plan. But WiFi is changing.
Mar 14, 2017 6:11PM PDT
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Thanks, But...
Mar 15, 2017 5:02AM PDT

Point taken regarding patch panel. Don't want to endure either the cost or speed degradation of current Mesh - if I get my router into a central location, I'm not concerned about whole-house coverage. My primary concern is if there are problems with this:
30' CAT6 cable run from the ISP's modem to the router, then a returning 30' CAT6 from the router to my switch.

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Tell me what the concern is.
Mar 15, 2017 9:45AM PDT

CAT6 on a straight run is specified good at 100 meters. 30 feet is a fraction of that distance. If you have a failure at 30 feet, it's just a bum cable or the installer didn't know their wiring pairs.

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Answer
The concern...
Mar 15, 2017 10:19AM PDT

With that layout, I have RJ45 connector on CAT6 plugged into ISP modem, running 30 feet to an RJ45 keystone jack, RJ45 patch cable from jack to router, RJ45 patch cable from router to another Jack, 30 feet to RJ45 connector plugged into switch...is that too many mechanical connections?

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I've seen a dozen mech connections
Mar 15, 2017 10:32AM PDT

And as long as it's right, it works.

The thing here is that I'm a reliability guru. (that is, electronics designer) Each connection is a possible failure point. The more you have the more trouble it is to find Waldo (the trouble maker.)

This is why we no longer field patch panels. They did not save a dime, caused a lot of lost hours and so on. It's not as pretty but putting the RJ45 connectors on the cable ends and then plugging what we want into the switch is less work, cost and trouble.

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Thanks
Mar 15, 2017 12:00PM PDT

Thank you for the time you invested in educating me. You touched on the issue behind my original thinking of a patch panel - for looks - as I don't have a dedicated wiring closet, I was planning a wall-mounted rack with patch panel on a swing-out. If I can come up with another wire management idea (maybe a comb bracket from which the unused-but-terminated drops can hang) I will forego the panel.