Questions about the home network

Hello, I would also use CAT7 cables and Cat6 sockets. You are absolutely right, you are building for the future. You should pay attention to Shielded cables. Of course, it also depends on what else is running alongside the cables. But the electrician knows that.

No one uses CAT5 wiring anymore, especially with the pairs split. That was still common 15 years ago because the bandwidth available today was not available then and the adapters couldn't handle it either. The same goes for fiber optics, how do you want to connect the cable to your laptop?

Speer

Where do you all have your gigabit connections that you need Cat 7? And even if you had gigabit, where are you downloading the data to? Do you all have a server with SSDs that can actually handle the bandwidth?

If it's for the future, then the empty conduit is the choice of agony, because then you can pull in whatever is current in the future.

And honestly, I think before the bandwidth at home is fully utilized with GB, there will be a wireless connection available for that.

And why shielded cables? CAT6 is always shielded! There is already the conversion from fiber to Ethernet today. How do you think distances over 100m are managed? And that CAT5 doesn't crumble... You don't work in the industry, do you?

I don't want to speak badly of your wiring, but I'm just questioning whether you will ever use such bandwidth?!

And as I said, I would also invest the 15€ as an extra cost.

@Perlenmann:
Why are you so vehemently insisting on the older technology when the new one comes with relatively low additional costs? A few years ago, no one was thinking about YouTube and the like, let alone IPTV. Back then, you could still surf the internet with a modem. Who knows where the journey will go from there. But it is clear that future applications will probably transmit more data over the network than today.
Even if you only want to copy data back and forth within the home network, a gigabit network can't hurt. If I were to do something new, I certainly wouldn't start by unraveling cables – at least not if the price advantage is as small as it is here.

But you are of course right about the empty conduits. Only this way can you remain somewhat flexible for the future – even if later you of course want the sockets exactly where you don’t have an empty conduit.

And personally, if possible and practical, I prefer a wired connection over a wireless one – faster, less prone to interference, and nowadays there is already enough radiation around. With laptops or tablets, people will probably prefer to use Wi-Fi, but you rarely carry a TV, PlayStation, or desktop computer around – I’d rather use a cable there.

@swix112: A patch panel definitely makes sense. The rigid network cables you lay permanently are also difficult to crimp connectors onto. That’s why you lay these cables on the patch panel and then connect switch and patch panel with short network cables. And as mentioned above, you simply have the option to flexibly assign the connections at the patch panel, for example for the telephone.