Re: On network (and otherwise) cabling a house...

Theo Markettos <theom+news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp.scrap001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

....

It might be better to make sure it's switched ethernet, not hubbed.
Otherwise they'll be able to snoop your network traffic, see any
in-the-clear passwords you send, etc.

Good point.


The house also has rooftop TV, FM, and DAB aerials and I wonder about
distributing those signals too.

I perhaps wouldn't bother about FM or DAB, especially for short term lets.
TV is useful - you might need to think about a distribution amplifier in
the loft and coax into each room.

I have a feeling that some of the distribution amps multiplex all 3 onto one
coax cable anyway, so apart from possibly spending more on the amp in the
first place, and more on room faceplates, it's a "free" extra.


Think about the TV licence situation too. Would they need their own or
can they share yours? (Be a selling point if they can)

Don't know. It seems crazy that they could watch my TV in the lounge
without needing a different licence, but not if they used their own set in a
different room.


(Does anyone think it's a bad idea to contemplate allowing resident
students and perhaps their occasional friends/visitors to use /my/
broadband connection? I tend to think a house without a bb connection
would be unappealing to a modern student.)

Indeed. It may be less unappealing if they're long term lets and the
student can contact BT/NTL/etc to get a connection to their room, but
they'll probably be stuck on 12 month contracts and have to pay
installation charges. If you do a bit of work you'll increase the rent
you can charge.

I presume wifi won't work?

It might for part of the network but not across the whole house, as far as
existing experiments suggest.


At the moment my connection to my ISP is a VirginMedia cable connection
which terminates in a place in a room which I do not think will always
be accessible to the lodgers.

How about a switched socket with an extension lead to the cable modem? Or
would they need to see the lights on the front as well? Since the CM
power is DC, you could even have a small low voltage cable to a switch and
back.

Hmmm, maybe...


I do have a cheap 16-port network switch. Maybe it needs replaced...

Sounds like it might be a bad PSU - shame you can't easily swap it out.
My first try would be to replace the electrolytic capacitors in the power
supply - worked for a printer with a similar fault.

I could explore opening the case, thanks for the idea.



Does anyone have any views over how much one should pay for a patch
panel?

Random example from my local electrical distributor:
http://www.qvsdirect.com/Patch-Leads-Panels-c-799.html
(usually good prices)

.... which is a good example of the price question. That page lists two
48-port panels, at approx £35 and £75. There's rarely any advice on this
sort of website about whether there's a quality difference. If the worst
happened and one had to replace a panel, it's no financial hardship but the
reterminating of every wire would be a pain. (I'm sensible enough to make
sure there's enough slack on incoming cables that that'd be possible.)


It may be worth asking electricians suppliers rather than computer
suppliers for prices.

Good idea.


The incoming VM cable connection also includes the house phone, and the
VM master socket is in the lounge at the moment. I think I'd have that
moved to the coal-hole too. Could I then use any of the installed cat5e
cables to take a phone connection to any existing cat5e socket, just by
using an adapter on each end of each such connection?

For phone you have some options:

Just make them use their mobiles (nasty but simple)

Partly this would be for my convenience too. The house does have some DECT
units in it but they're not all that reliable either, eg poor battery life.
It's not just when the batteries are old; even when the units were brand new
the advertised talk/standby times were far in excess of what the units
actually provide. Googling shows lots of people have the same problem.

I've replaced the low capacity cells in the handsets with higher capacity
and better quality cells, but don't know yet if this has fixed the problem.
I think the charger units and/or charge-level detection circuitry in the
phones are poor too eg not charging cells when they should. If, say, you
take a handset that claims to be fully charged and take its batteries out
and put thenm straight back in, often the phone will claim to have 0%
charge, and - worse - putting the thing on the base doesn't change that
state of affairs for hours.

Partly changing from BT to VM for phone made original phone-extension
cabling redundant (it ran from the wrong place, and in any case some other
work in the house meant cables were stripped out) and when BT offered to
move an incoming cable for £180 I went to VM instead. But I did at that
stage have to start using DECT to get phones into other rooms.


Make them pay BT/Virgin/etc to have a line installed (expensive)
Possibly tricky as Virgin may not understand that your spare room is a
different 'premises' to the main house (BTDTGTTS).

Interestingly when I got broadband put into my mum's house, she became the
formal account holder even though the service is billed to me. I'm not sure
that I could have had it entirely in my name with just her formal agreement.
And thus, as you say, I might have a problem getting an ISP to install a
line to my house entirely in someone-else's name.


Install a small exchange (PBX) to switch the lines. eBay might be a good
source for old ones that companies are replacing. Something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320318834514
http://www.sjgl.co.uk/nts/

Thanks for the links, and other ideas. More to think about!



--
Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own.
.

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