Network Cabling

[Tom]

Hi all. I'm thinking about network cabling my office with propper trunking and ports on the wall. At the moment I have 3 pc and a server tacked away in a back room all connected with loose cables taped to the skirting board.

Is this somthing I can do myself or is it best to get a pro? I was thinking about installing the trunking myself and getting a "propper" guy in to do the cabling.

Is it worth doing?

Tom

[Kaz]

Hey Tom,

Thought I'd let you in on a good lead - Cougar Data Networks. I needed some cabling redone and I wouldn't know where to start myself!

I got in contact with them via their website: www.cougardatanetworks.com and got a rapid response and a quote. I made my suggestions for what could be done, but they gave me a great alternative which saved me loads of money!

The techy guy came and did the job in a day and was gone before 5pm, which meant no extra hours for me too! And now my network is running much more smoothly and efficiently.

I recommend them 100%.

[Tom]

Thanks for the advice Kaz. I spoke to Jack at Cougar. Nice chap. They are going to come and take a look for me.

[Tim Tin Productions]

Hey Tom, I had Jack at Cougar do my studio and production suite. Can't go far wrong with them mate.

[Matt]

My advice Tom, is to go for the best cable you can afford. CAT5 and CAT5e are the standard but if you want to push big files, databases or music and films around the network go for CAT6.

I don't see a problem with you just installing the trunking by screwing it to the wall (don't use the sticky stuff - the weight of the cable will pull it off!).

When you have it in, mark where you want the network sockets and count how many there are. Remember that usually all the network cables go back to the same place which are then connected to a switch or hub. Work out where you want the cables to go back to and measure the distance to each network socket.

So if you have 4 network sockets:

2 are 3 meters away from where your switch/hub will be = 2x3 meters of network cable.

2 are 6 meters away from where your switch/hub will be = 2x6 meters of network cable.

you will need 4 network sockets and 18 Meters of network cable.

When you call for a quote, tell them you want xx number of network sockets and the total length of cable needed is xx meters. Also tell them that the trunling is already installed. This will get you a nice acurate quote.

Ask for a quote for CAT5, CAT5e and CAT6. If your feeling brave, ask for a quote for CAT7 too!

[Tim Tin Productions]

Mine network is all CAT6. The switches are gigabit and all our machines have gigabit network cards in them.

We move a lot of media files over the network and having a proper 1GB network makes a huge difference. I'm told its the hard drives on the server causing the bottle neck now so it may be time for an upgrade there soon.

[Tom]

Thanks all. I am doing the trunking myself and having a nice man come along to do the cabling. I have gone with CAT6 so I should be nice and future proof.

Thanks again..

[Matt]

No problem Tom. :)