Questions on DIY wiring your house with Ethernet, HDMI, Coax & Wall USB

[Steven Mancera]

Hi. I'm really new to all of this, so I want to ask some help and learn from this. My parents house is about to be done, and I want to ready it for wiring. 

First of all about Ethernet, I am contemplating for Cat 7 already, to future proof our house like for impending IoT shits. But supply of Cat 7 in bulk is so rare here, I can't even find one here in the Philippines none other than ordering it to Amazon. I do find a Cat 6a, which basically the same thing right, but Cat 7 got improved shielding and added +100MHz. So do you think Cat 7 is still overkill despite modern demands and usages these days? Should I just go with Cat 6a instead? Also shielding is important to me bc I'll pull this along the electrical wires on those orange plastic wiring tubings. I worry since its side by side with these electrical wires (tho have rubber insulation of course at the outside) it might cause so much drop and degrade and I'll not get what I pay for this. Concrete houses is a must here in the Philippines so no dry walls. 

Also about the Ethernet cable I want to use, I'm confused if I'll see this flat Cat 7 Ethernet cable that I'm seeing all over Amazon (like this), which is can even max up to 100ft, tho I really wont use it straight 100ft, more likely just cut and cut it, and crimp each sides, I've heard that Flat ethernet cables, aren't viable to use it at full length as there's more likely for cross talk as most are not twisted and shielded. Well that cable is twisted and have their own shielding, tho no outer mesh shielding like on regular ones (like this one). Also for some reasons flat cables are much expensive than regular ones, I also like flat cables as it's much easier to pull with and it's much more likely to be easier to pull with, and it's aesthetics and not be able to kink and tangle much. So what do you think, should I go with the flat cables or regular ones instead? And also, will flat cables much easier to cut, strip and crimp than regular ones? Will regular crimping and stripping tools work with flat too? I asked the manufacturer about it on Amazon and they replied they wouldn't suggest it and said

Quote

"We don't advice any customer to crimp it because you don't have the correct RJ45 connectors for it. Our flat cable is small in the copper wire, so the RJ45 connectors are not the same as the traditional connector that is for round cable. So i would say NO to it and you could order the length you need, we have 5ft, 10ft, 25ft, 50ft and 100ft available. Thanks anyway"

Is that any true? I'm asking you guys, do you think I could cut, strip or crimp flat ethernet cables?

I plan to wire it first, then later is putting wall outlets and on it and maybe buying a network switch if it's applicable. But first some questions about those bc I think I don't understand them, and maybe how to structural plan it.

We want every room, all rooms both on first & second floor (some rooms have 4 Ethernet like my room and Family Room), plus 2 Google Wifi spots for each floors (those will have their own eth, to have their own Ethernet ports, so they could just get Ethernet port, and either put it directly on their PCs or their media devices. And female keystone will be wired to an Ethernet cable and all of them are gonna meet at the ceiling, the internet modem will be at the second floor family room, which it's gonna be wired to a gigabit switch at the attic ceiling, using a keystone again right? (or do we need coupler for this time), for it to be distributed and the internet be separated right? That's how it works right? Is this is a wrong setup? Especially the separated modem to network switch to rooms route (does that degrade speed?) (I want hidden and separated network switch bc I bet I'll barely work and touch network switch anyways, and I don't want blinking lights on my Family Room, I want it clean)

Also about network switches, I like this nicely design Asus one (yea I know I'm buying it for aesthetics not functionality), each ports need to be ported on each room's number of ports right? So the total number of Ethernet wall ports I'll have, that's how many ports I should have in my network switch right? So what if that 8 port from Asus Network Switch isn't enough, can I buy 2 and like bridge or combine them so I'll have 16 ports? Is that possible on any network switches? Will that degrade performance too? Also does network switches needed cooling or not? Especially even just for home uses? Can you turn them off, like when you're about to sleep or something, to save some power?

About keystone, couplers & wall Ethernet ports, what's the difference between usage of keystone and wall couplers? Does both work both ways? I also want keystone setup so I could customize the ports I'll have on that wall port, e.g. mix coax & Ethernet, or add HDMI or USB, such that. Or should I just buy wall ports combinations that's already as is? The thing is if I do that there will be wall plates design consistencies. 

About coax, HDMI and wall USB, is all just a coupler keystone right? You couple a coax, HDMI or USB cable inside the wall, with the wall socket to the other wall socket or directly right?

On wall HDMI, can you essentially cut HDMI's each port, and buy another port and crimp it again or nah? Bc that's all fiber and really manufactured? Bc I think our wall tubing on concrete won't gonna fit the HDMI port there, but the cable will, so I'll just need to cut the other HDMI port, pull the cable first and crimp a new one? Is that possible or nah? Also can you use wall USB to distribute duplication of an input to other rooms or such? I'll most likely need that for that, atleast maybe not in immediate but in the future, but since the port can't go into the tubing itself, I'm less considering it now. But important thing is I'll still learn about it.

On wall USB, do you just use this to have much longer applications and ports for USB, or can you use that for wall USB charging as well? That's what I'm confused about? Bc some legit wall USB charging sockets that I'm seeing is bundled right with power socket, is it bc it basically needs an AC regulator inside right? And I really want the keystone setup as much as possible bc like I've said I want to customize the setup and layout, and separate power sockets on USB too. I both want USB A and USC too, with Qualcomm's Quick Charge as much as possible, So is wall charging with USB coupler keystone impossible? Can you still make it work?

I know this is are long ass questions, but pardon me for the bother. Please I really need some help and I want to learn to do this myself. Thanks in advance

[wojtepanik]

I would think about doing somehting like patch panel or mosaic system, those are systems available for such applications 

[intertan]

cat7 is future proof. Those flat ones I have herd is garbage, also depending on the area you might need some special coated cat7 due to fire regulations.

taking my isp/tv providers

coax company, 1 coax run. though they can use ethernet for there boxes

satellite 1-2 depending on provider and hardware.

iptv provider, recommend 2 runs to separate the iptv packets and regular internet packets.

 

What I did is this

4 cat6 runs to all possible tv locations. Main tv locations got an extra run for smart tv function

2 coax runs

all connected to a patch panel in basement, I also have various other runs in house for AP and future needs like a computer in the garage to research stuff like how to fix my car.

 

Your usb question. using the keystone is not a good idea for charging. I have several of those built in chargers in a power outlet. I got the leviton ones and have been great so far. The keystone You are probably going to have a issue over a certain distance. I did look at this at one point.

 

HDMI also has a distance issue. Sure there are special one way cables that have a transmit and receive end you need to install right. If you are serious and have the budget you need a HDMI over ethernet option like hdbaset. the newer standard has usb and ethernet in 1 ethernet cable.

 

your dual router can work but will also cause issues if not setup right. You want a router and switches. Adding AP to cover dead spots in your house is preferred. I have unifi and a still use my isp gateway to just manage the data.

 

I also believe the google wifi has a separate wifi network to communicate to each other. Works but like I said above if you can do a harwired AP you wont regret it, it is also POE so the switch will have to be a poe capable.

[Lurick]

Cat7 is not an official TIA/EIA standard so the variances in manufacturing will be much higher in terms of what they offer or claim to offer and actually deliver from what I've seen. This is not to say you won't get crappy Cat6 or Cat6a cables either. Just avoid CCA cables at all costs!

If you want 10GbE then go with Cat6a and call it a day otherwise you need specific ends to properly terminate Cat7 which are pretty expensive last I saw.

You need a modem (assuming cable) to a router [note: this assumes that the modem isn't a combo unit] and then to the switch. This is because a pure modem will hand out one IP address to the first thing that asks so nothing else will get any access to the internet. If it's a combo unit or you have a router between it and the switch then the router gets the public IP and hands out private IP addresses to everything behind and from there the router handles NAT and everything else for traffic leaving the network.

 

Keystone is for punching down wires, a coupler needs to have the end terminated first and then plugged in. If you're running the wires yourself I would go with a keystone and punch down the wires instead of terminating them and wasting ends but it's up to you, they'll both get the job done.

 

Edit:

Added further clarification