[Advice needed]: designing a house to build, want my home network to be better then conventional isp modem that is typically here in Ireland

[Colum_Mullally]

Hi, long time LTT viewer first time community poster.

 

My partner and I are looking to build our forever home. We have hired an architect to draw up the designs. Is there any major pitfalls I should avoid in designs or things to consider generally l to future proof a networking setup?

 

Daily needs of the network:

- I a software Engineer so will have a home office where I work remotely from on a daily basis so will need stability.

 

- I also have a gaming rig that I use to casually game nothing hardcore but alot of online multiplayer.

 

- Have aspirations for having an server setup both a nas and a something to run personal projects and home automation stuff may be a 1 system maybe to unsure.

 

- In my Current house I have a blink camera system that relies on WiFi signal to send video footage so would love some kind of WiFi access point setup or something to ensure coverage all around the house; which is planned to be 2 stories.

 

- I hope to be able to have aleast gigabit ethernet to multiple rooms but am unsure how feasible that is.

Am I abit early considering this at this stage? or is it all more down the line when we are actually building?

 

Complete noob on network setups have never even had a switch only an isp modem so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[whispous]

A few things

 

Do you want to spend hundreds or thousands of pounds on your networking solution?

 

Have a dedicated place in the house which will have a stable temperature for your networking gear to be in. If possible, central to the house, if possible, at the same place the internet connection comes in. Have plenty of power available.

 

Make sure if a device shorted and caught fire, the room could reasonably detect and contain (Put a great, regularly tested smoke alarm in)

 

Do take the opportunity to run Cat6 from this place to every room in the house - think not about where your computers/other devices you want wired in are going to go, think about every possible place you may want them to be over time and put a network port in.

 

Run two network cables to each single socket - it barely costs much more and allows for things to get broken and be more easily fixed or expanded.

 

Use a mesh router/multi AP system for house-wide wifi, and take the opportunity to have it be STRONG everywhere - don't stretch by thinking "well it will be weak here but we don't need it to be here for now". Don't have multiple APs with different SSIDs.

You may achieve this with a cheaper more consumer friendly setup such as the Deco range from TP link or the mosr expensive but far more capable range from someone like Ubiquity, which typically has some sort of server you've keep in your dedicated network space.

 

Connect these APs/mesh nodes with cables - don't rely on wifi backhaul between the nodes.

[Colum_Mullally]

36 minutes ago, whispous said:

A few things

 

Do you want to spend hundreds or thousands of pounds on your networking solution?

I am willing to spend thousands but definitely not tens of thousands 5000ish would be a comfortable middle ground. But obviously I don't want to spend money for the sake of it.

 

39 minutes ago, whispous said:

 

Have a dedicated place in the house which will have a stable temperature for your networking gear to be in. If possible, central to the house, if possible, at the same place the internet connection comes in. Have plenty of power available.

 

Make sure if a device shorted and caught fire, the room could reasonably detect and contain (Put a great, regularly tested smoke alarm in)

Would in the home office area be suitable or would there be noise issues and or should it be a dedicated space solely like a server room was planning to only have an office space. Other then fire alarm is there any major  things to contain and protect against fires.

 

 

[Falcon1986]

@Colum_Mullally

 

Here are a few things I've learned since doing this myself:

• Wire in as many gadgets as possible! If you want stability, don't depend on WiFi.
• When it comes to running ethernet, try to use cable to sustain the LAN speeds you need or plan to need. At the prices Cat6/6a all-copper cables go for these days, I don't see the need to use Cat5e, unless if that's only what's available to you. With the right adapters and configuration at both ends of the connection Cat6/6a can achieve speeds higher than 1Gbps.
• For ethernet layout, I took advantage of the same conduits and endpoints that coaxial cable was running. My logic was, if it needs coax, it likely will need ethernet and both can converge at a similar origin. Plus, it's not running parallel to power cables! Obviously, if you have a room that only needs ethernet, then plan for that. Keep in mind, though, that you don't have to run 4 different ethernet cables to a room for 4 different devices. While, yes, doing so will maintain full bandwidth of the cable, you're unlikely to saturate the connection anyway. So even if you have a smart TV, game console, DVR, etc. at one endpoint in your living room to terminate, you can always do so on a single cable and connect all devices to a switch.
• When running multiple ethernet cables together, take note of how thick the bundle becomes. This might be space-limiting in conduit.
• Terminate your cables at the wall with keystones. You can even get those multi-cable types so you can have plugs for ethernet, coaxial, etc. all in one. Looks very neat.
• Use a LAN cable tester after crimping ethernet. Saved me a lot of headaches.
• If you can, use a patch panel close to the router/switch. Makes organization better.
• PoE switches with compatible APs will reduce the amount of wires needed to be run.
• For WiFi in today's larger homes with lots of wall obstruction, I've moved to a multi-AP layout, especially if it supports SD-WAN with remote management.

[whispous]

3 hours ago, Colum_Mullally said:

I am willing to spend thousands but definitely not tens of thousands 5000ish would be a comfortable middle ground. But obviously I don't want to spend money for the sake of it.

 

Would in the home office area be suitable or would there be noise issues and or should it be a dedicated space solely like a server room was planning to only have an office space. Other then fire alarm is there any major  things to contain and protect against fires.

 

 

The noise aspect is entirely up to you

 

I think you're going to want to buy a NAS at some stage - and that can range from a passively cooled minimal computer with two or more hard drives in it to - and this is if you wanna get more into computers - an actual server with fans of varying loudness from whisper to jet engine.

 

If you're just doing a bit of small office home office networking for now, there won't really be any noise - your router will be a fanless normal model, and your switch (to send network cable to the whole house and to your mesh wifi hub) could be a passive model.

 

If you move on to needing something like a 24+ port switch, you'll probably be getting one with some noisy fans inside.

 

For fire, just keep it in your mind that this gear is likely to be out of sight, and always on.

[Blue4130]

Highly recommend installing conduit so that you can pull cables in the future. Also think hard about running some fiber. It's relatively cheap and great for future speed upgrading. Do in now so that you don't have to worry about it after walls are finished.