Home network almost finished

XMEN Iceman · Post by **XMEN Iceman** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 4:29 pm

Yes, I geek extreme finally got my house wiring done today.

I have network drops to the master bedroom, living room, and stepsons bedroom. They had wireless before but I wanted a better connection for the next phase.

The wiring was run to a closet in my computer workshop room. There is was punched down to a Lucent punchdown block then wired into a 3COM switch. I will then connect my new NETGEAR Wireless N router and DSL line into the switch.

What started all of this is the addition of two little pieces of new video equipment, a new DirecTV DVR which can stream on-demand movies via the ethernet connection, and a new Samsung BluRay DVD Player that can stream Netflix movies and Pandora radio via a wired or wireless connection. Very cool. I prefer wired versus wireless for streaming video.

Anyway, when I get time I will attach some pictures.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:11 pm

Ahhh, nifty! Ya, I wouldn't want to use wireless-only either.

XMEN Iceman · Post by **XMEN Iceman** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:17 pm

Yeah, sometimes load times for Netflix instant view movies was horrible to my laptop then via DVI to the TV's. Wireless can be painfully slow.

Anyway,
I got a Samsung BD-P1600 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player from Butterflyphoto.com for $239. Heck of a deal.

http://www.butterflyphoto.com/prodinfo.phtml?id=6378

Got another great deal on the wireless router, I was wrong on the brand, it is Netgear. It was on sale for $34.99, right now it is $54.99.

NETGEAR WNR3500-100NAR IEEE 802.11b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft RangeMax Premium Wireless-N Gigabit Router

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833122274

Spinning Hat · Post by **Spinning Hat** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 2:02 am

Very nice Ice.

I'm running all wireless here for the computers, but my Tivo and game consoles are all wired.. MUCH different in downloads and latency.. Next house will be fully wired for sure.

XMEN Ashaman DTM · Post by **XMEN Ashaman DTM** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 10:50 pm

I've been wanting to do this for a while. Do you stream your video content, Ice?

Just curious; I've talked with a gal at work who got a slingbox for her husband and they really like it. Though she said it's easy to fill up. Are you able to stream things in HD on your network?

XMEN Iceman · Post by **XMEN Iceman** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:42 pm

Yep, no problem. Got the BluRay player last night hooked up and it works great. Streams just fine with no glitches nor drop outs so far.

Just got the DVR hooked up to the ethernet and the on demand stuff just downloads and lets us know when it is ready. We watch ours pretty often so it does not fill up often.

Also be aware that I used some expensive AVAYA Systimax Gigaspeed Cat 6E 6 GB/S wire we had left over from projects at work, very very nice stuff. It was wired 568B standard to a 3COM 10/100 switch then to the router. So far very fast.

XMEN Iceman · Post by **XMEN Iceman** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:52 pm

Oh...the next part is the best. The 3COM switch is a 24 port. The room on the other side of the wiring closet is becoming a game room later, and I am putting about 14 network drops in there for impromptu LAN Parties at the house, so you just come in, plug up, and you have network and internet.

The room is roughly 24 x 14, so plenty of room for a small LAN.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 8:03 pm

Seems kind of inflexible to me. Why not a couple of drops on opposite sides of the room and then pull out a mini-switch when needed, which saves a lot of cables running across the floor? Well, I guess your way you don't need the extra switch.

XMEN Iceman · Post by **XMEN Iceman** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:00 am

It can be done either way...I still have a bunch of switches from our old LAN days.

Anyone need a big switch give me a holler! I have a few 3COM models and some other ones. Some are 10 mb and I have a couple of 10/100's too.