The Plan

What Do I Need and Where Do I Need It

The first thing I had to do is figure out what I want and needed out of a home network. I have several rooms that have, or might have some device that would require, or benefit from, a network connection. Originally, I planned for, and did, hook up two computers with a wireless connection, which worked well. When we purchased the ReplayTV units and I learned about the ability to share video between units, a wireless network alone would just not be good enough.

So I made an assessment of what I have, what we may get in the future, and where it all would most likely go. Our main computer is a P4-2.0GHz running Windows XP Home and we also have a PII-350MHz Linux box, which will be a file server and store downloaded video from the ReplayTV units and all of our music files, are both up in our loft. Down stairs in the guest room, we have a PII-350MHz running Windows 98SE that my son plays his games on. There is a ReplayTV 5040 unit in both our master bedroom and the living room. We have also recently decided that we want an Xbox, which could go either down in the living room or up in the loft.

I decided that the router would go in my master bedroom closet because it had the room, a power receptacle, is a relatively convenient and central location, and most importantly, out of the reach of my four-year old son. My DSL modem is up in my loft, because that is where I had the local telephone company put the DSL jack before I began to think of how I would install a wired network.

 I decided that up in the loft, I would need three outlets, each with three Cat5e jacks, for the two computers and the DSL modem because my wife an I plan on re-arranging the room eventually. We might also change our master bedroom around, depending on our tastes, so I planned on two different outlet locations with two jacks each. I also needed to look at each of the other rooms to see if there was a need to have more than one network jack or outlet location. So after careful consideration I determined the following; in the Living room, Den, Kitchen, Guest room, and third bedroom, would each get just one outlet location with two jacks each.

When we bought the house, we thought of several locations that we could possibly put a TV and had the builder put video jacks in every room and a couple in two rooms. Our builder did not have the option for networking and they would not even let me pull my own cables, but they would let me put in pull strings. So with the locations of the pull strings in mind, I mapped out the outlet locations and wire routing to get a good visualization of the project in Excel, showing my home's floor plan, each place where a pull string is located, and where ever I thought I could use a network jack but I did not put a pull string. This would help me determine how many wires I would need to pull to each outlet location, quantity of jacks, and wall plates. 

The map.

In my research on how to build a home network I stumbled across a few sites that would help me figure how to build the network. A key one that I found was the "Structured Wiring How To" site that described why a structured system would be the best way to build the network for ease of installation and flexibility for change or growth.

Things to consider when laying out any network:

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