[ale] Home fiber network?

Fri Aug 28 11:53:44 EDT 2009

cat6 make killer pull-cord for later fiber runs...

Be sure to run 12 pair fiber so you can later connect up multi-trunked
Tbit systems.....

Seriously - unless you _really_ plan to run 10G+ or have runs longer
than 300m, fiber is a waste of cash. Chunk the money down and get a
4-cable pull run of top quality, plenum-rated cat6 to form your
backbone between the central server stack/entertainment cluster input
and a secondary concentration center elsewhere in the structure. Put
good switches at either end with trunking on. Star off the rest of the
runs from that. If you can actually get enough bandwidth _into_ the
house to actually need a quad-trunk, I'm moving in next door in about
a week.

:-)

On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 10:18 AM, scott mcbrien<smcbrien at gmail.com> wrote:
> Richard,
> I've used the cut, tie, pull method many times in my own home.  Usually I
> leave a pull string in place if I need new runs, but some people wouldn't
> like the way it ends up looking near the network closet.  cut, tie, pull
> does require some better planning on how you lay out your initial runs, and
> also has some problems if you're using it with tight or large bundles of
> cable.  It's hard to pull a cable that's surrounded by 50 other tightly
> packed cables.  I found that having 3 drops in every room in the house, the
> area around the patch panel had a larger bundle, but after that the bundles
> tended to thin out as it branched into different rooms.
> -Scott
>
> On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 10:02 AM, Richard Bronosky <Richard at bronosky.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> I agree that I cannot come up with any justification for fiber.
>> However, suggesting that someone can simply repull a cable is full of
>> fail. This should only ever be done for straight runs. I made a
>> vertical drop that goes from my attic through 2 floors to my basement.
>> I have a permanent fish cord double the length of the run terminated
>> at each end. I use this much more often than I expected, as it goes
>> trough the fireplaces on both floors where I later installed flat
>> panel TVs. I have tried similar things in areas with one to three
>> bends and have often ripped cat5e (riser and patch) cable in half
>> trying to pull it.
>>
>> If you really want to future proof, install whole house central vacuum
>> tubing. You can then plug the holes with [basically a sock] and use a
>> shop vac on one opening to pull/suck a cable with a pom-pom connected.
>> You can cover the conduit openings with this awesome plate
>>
>> http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=105&cp_id=10425&cs_id=1042505&p_id=3997&seq=1&format=2
>> Have I mentioned how much I love monoprice.com?
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 9:41 AM, scott mcbrien<smcbrien at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Fiber isn't worth it (at least not now).  When you're planning your cat6
>> > pulls, just make sure there's extra room in the bundle and some space
>> > around
>> > where the pulls go through studs, walls, or floors.  If at some point in
>> > the
>> > future, you want to replace a cat6 drop with fiber, just attach the
>> > fiber to
>> > the origination of the cat6, go to the termination point and pull up the
>> > cat6 wire, the fiber you've attached will come right along with it.
>> > What are you doing in the house that is too slow over GigE?  If you
>> > compare
>> > the cost of the fiber, and all the equipment that goes with it with Cat6
>> > +
>> > GigE, I think it's hard to find a justification.  Especially considering
>> > that you're boxen are either also going to have to have fiber network
>> > cards
>> > in them or are going to talk over copper anyway.
>> > -Scott
>> >
>> > On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 9:03 AM, Scott Denlinger
>> > <scott at scottdenlinger.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I have an old house which I'm remodeling, and I am considering running
>> >> fiber
>> >> instead of cat. 6, since I think fiber won't become as obsolete as
>> >> quickly
>> >> as
>> >> cat. 6 will. Does this make any sense to consider? I've run cables
>> >> before,
>> >> and
>> >> could do the termination of copper myself, but would I be out of my
>> >> league
>> >> trying to run fiber? I would have to bring someone in to terminate
>> >> everything
>> >> and test it, but I'm reasonably confident I could design the network,
>> >> and
>> >> run
>> >> the fiber myself, so I'm sure I could save on a lot of the labor costs,
>> >> even if
>> >> I need someone to terminate all the connections.
>> >>
>> >> Are there good Internet resources out there for RESIDENTIAL fiber
>> >> networks? A
>> >> lot of what I've seen in my searching so far seems to involve
>> >> commercial
>> >> installations.
>> >>
>> >> Another factor is location--I'm in Statesboro, and there's at least one
>> >> guy here in town
>> >> who claims to be able to do fiber installations, but I haven't gotten
>> >> into
>> >> specifics with him. I'm sure there are folks in Savannah who could come
>> >> out and
>> >> do it pretty easily, especially if they didn't have to spend time
>> >> running
>> >> the
>> >> fiber themselves. I imagine if they're only terminating and hooking up
>> >> onsite
>> >> equipment, it's a 1-day job at most.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks for any tips, insights or caveats.
>> >>
>> >> Scott Denlinger
>> >>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> .!# RichardBronosky #!.
>>
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James P. Kinney III
Actively in pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness