My son owns an older house with no “modern” wiring like ethernet or coax.
He just told me that he’s saving money to wire the house for ATT’s Uverse service. I’d like to get him a gift card from wherever one would buy the supplies he needs. Since I don’t have FIOS, I have no clue what kind of wiring and supplies he will need.
Where do I go? It has to be a local company (Best Buy? Radio Shack? Walmart?)because I don’t have time to order a gift card through the net (he’ll be here Thursday night).
Any idea how much $$ he’ll need? His house is a one-story, around 1300 sf, on a crawlspace.
As far as I know (and I could be entirely wrong), UVerse is a fiber-optic service, which means that the upfront cost to the company covers wiring from the ISP to the house (unless your local municipality has invested in fiber-to-the-curb). Once inside, there’s no need for fiber to reach every place in the house - just the gateway needs to be wired up.
The “gateway”, in this scenario, would be the modem. The fee paid to the ISP should cover installation of fiber to that point.
To wire up the rest of the house, your son may decide to go for CAT5/6 wiring, which can be bought by the box/spool at any local hardware store.
Hardware stores also sell routers and switches, but they’re overpriced, and you can get a decent router for [70](http://www.linksysbycisco.com/CA/en/products/WRT54GL)-160 at your local computer store.
(Both routers are specifically designed to accept custom firmware, if you’d like, which is a great investment)
I find wireless a better (and easier) investment. Plunking down a $70 router will provide wireless access to the entire house, without the requirement of dragging copious amounts of wiring through the walls.
Well, uverse is just VDSL, so it runs off plain jane phone lines. The phone line runs into a modem that handles typical internet stuff and also IPTV. IPTV is TV via IP networking usually through CAT5 cables, which are typical ethernet cables.
So Im guessing he’s just running CAT5 through his home. He’ll need wire, a crimping tool, etc. You can read all about it here:
Now that I think about it, you’re right. A wireless router would trump the need for any kind of wiring. He’s a computer nerd so I know he already knows that. I guess I’ll have to ask his wife. Thanks!
Lowes should have just about everything he needs. I am assuming he will wire for ethernet, since it has better performance than coax, and is more future proof. Uverse supplies a DSL Modem/Router (which also has wifi) and the set top boxes connect to it via ethernet. It is also possible to use existing coax wiring, but since he doesn’t have anything in place, it is best to go with ethernet.
He will need
Cat5e cable- 500ft might be $70
Wallplates, about $9 each
Connectors, $10
A crimping tool $15-$20
Wire stripper
Cable clips
Long spade bit
Keyhole saw
He might also want a network switch to go next to the router. A network switch is sort of the networking equivalent of a power strip- one port in, 4/8/or 16 out. The Uverse router has 4 ports on it, which may not be enough depending on how many rooms he is wiring. He may want to wire up rooms that don’t need it now, because more and more things are being developed that can hook up to a computer network.
Hopefully he will be able to reach everything easily from the crawlspace without unexpected surprises in the walls like cross blocks. My house is also old, with solid paneling everwhere and cross blocks to support it, and a second story. It took a few more cable fishing and drilling tools to get everything done.
The wireless is there to serve whatever PCs he might have on the network. It is considerably slower than a wired connection, which is required by the set top boxes, so he will need cat5 run to each room that has a TV.
I believe wiring may be included in the free installation, however the installers will probably take shortcuts. For instance, cable installers like to stick a coax thru a hole in the wall from the outside, or up through a floor. They are less inclined to go into the crawlspace and put in a wall plate. Your son might want to do it himself so it gets done the way he wants. That was my motivation for pre-wiring before the uverse guys came over. It’s also an opportunity to get cable to other places for future uses. A lot can be done with wifi, but wired is faster and more stable, and a better choice for a desktop pc that isn’t going anywhere.
Uverse will supply any switches needed to add connections in each room and maybe at the router. They seem to give them out pretty freely so he should take advantage of that.
That must be what he’s doing. He mentioned something about not wanting the installers to do it because of the slip-shod work they do.
They both have laptops but he also has a desktop that he uses for online gaming so I’m sure he wants to get the fastest connection speeds possible for that.
OK…I have a plan. They live within a few blocks from Lowes so if all of this stuff can be purchased there, I will get a gift card tomorrow.
If he’s going to do all this, I would recommend that he just install plastic conduit (blue ‘smurf’ tubing) from a main location to each room in his house.
This isn’t much harder when you’re already drilling into the walls, etc., and it truly is future-proof. Cat-5 or -6, coax TV cable, phone lines, fiber-optic lines, whole-house music, some future technology, etc. can all be installed pretty easily anytime in the future, once you have the cable pathways installed.
The conduit is a good idea if there is a lot of wiring going through the attic and all the way down the walls. However if everything can go through the crawlspace, it may be more trouble than it’s worth. It’s pretty easy to just crawl under the house and tack the wires to the floor joists and not worry about fishing cable. If you really hate dirt, dried leaves and spiders, then the conduit may be the better choice.
BTW OP’s son might like to get a set of coveralls if he doesn’t already have some.
Number One Son was very grateful for the gift card. I wish to thank all of you for your help. He’s taking some vacation days next week and he’ll be getting intimate with his crawlspace.
