Hello everyone,
In about three weeks, we are supposed to finalize our electrical planning on site. Unfortunately, our electrician is somewhat old-fashioned, which makes it difficult for me to collaboratively plan a future-proof electrical setup with him. Therefore, I am currently educating myself to ensure that the networking in our single-family home is fundamentally future-proof.
Basically, it’s about the LAN network... LAN wall outlets are relatively expensive, so proper planning is even more important.
About us:
- Mid to late 20s – couple without children. Planning for 2 children in the near future.
- Single-family house with a usable basement, 2 full floors, and fully equipped with concrete ceilings
- Utility room in the basement with air-to-water heat pump, ventilation system, photovoltaic system
- The router is planned to be located in the office on the ground floor
- The upper floor includes bathroom / bedroom / 2 children’s rooms
- No satellite dish or cable TV — we will use Internet TV exclusively!
Now, I am struggling to network our single-family home sensibly but as cost-effectively as possible.
I have the following questions:
1. Slightly off-topic: In the living room, I would like to have an in-wall conduit installed on the TV wall (the TV will be wall-mounted) so that no cables are visible. Is this sensible and affordable? I will get exact prices from my electrician if this makes sense at all. Would it also make sense to install power outlets at TV height? How do you plan the connections on your media wall reasonably? What should be considered?
Since we plan to use a Magenta TV box and thus IP-TV, a total of four LAN ports in the living room area would presumably be useful, right?
2. How many LAN outlets and especially where should LAN outlets be installed? Mainly: which cable? Is CAT6 sufficient?
→ Such a double LAN outlet certainly costs close to €200, so planning must be really sensible.
Is it really necessary to install 2 double LAN outlets in each children’s room? I always wonder: what is actually going to be plugged in there?
One port for the TV and one port for a multimedia device should be enough, right? So four connections would probably be overkill, correct?
The fact is: It will certainly take years or decades before our children actually use these outlets... Who knows what changes might happen by then? Therefore, could we not cost-effectively use empty conduits (empty pipes) instead?
Is it also possible to “branch off” from an existing double outlet afterward to add more ports for the room? What should be considered here? Or should we consider having an empty conduit prepared in another spot in the room so that a socket can be installed later?
3. How do you solve the “router problem”? Should the one router be placed in the office (ground floor) with LAN outlets in the existing bedrooms upstairs to ensure a stable LAN connection? Or is a router upstairs absolutely necessary?
4. How important are LAN outlets in the utility room? Should the router possibly even be located in the utility room? Because of the concrete ceiling between basement and ground floor, a second router would almost certainly be needed. How should this situation be handled with a basement?
5. What do you think about installing empty conduits for CAT cables in the kitchen / hallway etc. to enable later retrofitting? Is this relatively affordable in new builds?
I would appreciate any feedback so we can make the best possible plans 🙂
In about three weeks, we are supposed to finalize our electrical planning on site. Unfortunately, our electrician is somewhat old-fashioned, which makes it difficult for me to collaboratively plan a future-proof electrical setup with him. Therefore, I am currently educating myself to ensure that the networking in our single-family home is fundamentally future-proof.
Basically, it’s about the LAN network... LAN wall outlets are relatively expensive, so proper planning is even more important.
About us:
- Mid to late 20s – couple without children. Planning for 2 children in the near future.
- Single-family house with a usable basement, 2 full floors, and fully equipped with concrete ceilings
- Utility room in the basement with air-to-water heat pump, ventilation system, photovoltaic system
- The router is planned to be located in the office on the ground floor
- The upper floor includes bathroom / bedroom / 2 children’s rooms
- No satellite dish or cable TV — we will use Internet TV exclusively!
Now, I am struggling to network our single-family home sensibly but as cost-effectively as possible.
I have the following questions:
1. Slightly off-topic: In the living room, I would like to have an in-wall conduit installed on the TV wall (the TV will be wall-mounted) so that no cables are visible. Is this sensible and affordable? I will get exact prices from my electrician if this makes sense at all. Would it also make sense to install power outlets at TV height? How do you plan the connections on your media wall reasonably? What should be considered?
Since we plan to use a Magenta TV box and thus IP-TV, a total of four LAN ports in the living room area would presumably be useful, right?
2. How many LAN outlets and especially where should LAN outlets be installed? Mainly: which cable? Is CAT6 sufficient?
→ Such a double LAN outlet certainly costs close to €200, so planning must be really sensible.
Is it really necessary to install 2 double LAN outlets in each children’s room? I always wonder: what is actually going to be plugged in there?
One port for the TV and one port for a multimedia device should be enough, right? So four connections would probably be overkill, correct?
The fact is: It will certainly take years or decades before our children actually use these outlets... Who knows what changes might happen by then? Therefore, could we not cost-effectively use empty conduits (empty pipes) instead?
Is it also possible to “branch off” from an existing double outlet afterward to add more ports for the room? What should be considered here? Or should we consider having an empty conduit prepared in another spot in the room so that a socket can be installed later?
3. How do you solve the “router problem”? Should the one router be placed in the office (ground floor) with LAN outlets in the existing bedrooms upstairs to ensure a stable LAN connection? Or is a router upstairs absolutely necessary?
4. How important are LAN outlets in the utility room? Should the router possibly even be located in the utility room? Because of the concrete ceiling between basement and ground floor, a second router would almost certainly be needed. How should this situation be handled with a basement?
5. What do you think about installing empty conduits for CAT cables in the kitchen / hallway etc. to enable later retrofitting? Is this relatively affordable in new builds?
I would appreciate any feedback so we can make the best possible plans 🙂
H
hampshire2 Nov 2021 14:18First, plan the cable network (CAT-7 cables are only slightly more expensive than lower-grade cables) and route the cables to a central patch panel where there is space for the internet access router, a sufficiently large switch, and, if needed, a network storage device. The internet connection from your provider should also be routed to this point. Simply sketch this out as a diagram to help you move forward.
The cables then run to the connection points (Wi-Fi access points, network outlets in the rooms, TV locations...) according to your preference.
Wi-Fi is set up using access points.
Network outlets definitely don’t have to cost 200€ (euros). For the TV in the living room, you can add a small switch to avoid installing too many outlets in the wall.
If you want to plan for the future, you can also install fiber optic cables inside the house—however, most of your current devices will still require adapters, so this is not very practical at present.
The cables then run to the connection points (Wi-Fi access points, network outlets in the rooms, TV locations...) according to your preference.
Wi-Fi is set up using access points.
Network outlets definitely don’t have to cost 200€ (euros). For the TV in the living room, you can add a small switch to avoid installing too many outlets in the wall.
If you want to plan for the future, you can also install fiber optic cables inside the house—however, most of your current devices will still require adapters, so this is not very practical at present.
hampshire schrieb:
First, plan the cable network (CAT-7 is only slightly more expensive than lower grade cables) and run the cables to a central patch panel with space for the Internet access router, a sufficiently large switch, and possibly a network storage device, where the provider’s Internet connection also terminates. Draw a simple diagram of this to help you progress.
The cables then run to the connection points (Wi-Fi access points, network outlets in the rooms, TV locations, etc.) as you wish.
You extend Wi-Fi with access points.
Network outlets definitely don’t have to cost 200€. For the TV in the living room, you can add a small switch to avoid installing too many outlets in the wall.
If you want to future-proof, you can also install fiber optic cables inside the house — although most of your devices will still need adapters currently, so it isn’t very practical for the present. Basically, I imagine that my central patch panel would be located in the technical room in the basement, is that correct?
There I have space for any network storage, etc. In other words, this is the "master room" from which I can distribute everything.
From there, I can plan the cabling routes, provide enough LAN outlets in the rooms, and set up Wi-Fi access points on the ground floor as well as in the upper floor.
For someone who is not a tech expert, this should be sufficient and properly equipped, and it also allows you to use switches on the respective floors, right?
Tarnari schrieb:
In the case of Magenta TV from Telekom, you should look into IGMPv3 and switches. It’s not related to the cabling but to the necessary devices. Otherwise, unfortunately, the Telekom TV reception won’t work.Yes, I have read about that as well... So I would need to connect a compatible switch to the Magenta TV box, correct? Surely Telekom would also be the right contact for me once we get closer to moving in.
exto1791 schrieb:
Basically, I imagine that my central patch panel will be located in the technical room in the basement, correct? The best location for a central hub is as close as possible to all spokes. The patch panel itself is a passive component and therefore does not generate heat. However, it is also ideally placed near switches, bridges, and routers, which benefit from cooling and preferably are situated close to each other and near the building’s media entry point. I am not familiar with your floor plans. Typically, I would not start a second distribution point under 25-30 endpoints, so in a single-family home, you will usually refer to your patch panel in the singular form correctly.
exto1791 schrieb:
Certainly, Telekom could also be the right contact for me, You will often find a team under the username @Telekom hilft in forums, who regularly provide better support than the general hotline 330....
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
exto1791 schrieb:
Yes, I had read about that too... So I need to connect a suitable switch to the Magenta TV box, right? Surely Telekom could be the right contact for me once we get closer to moving in.Telekom won’t be able to tell you much about that. They will say anything beyond the Speedport router is outside their support scope. I can only recommend that you dive deeply into the topic yourself. In the end, it’s your network. Telekom only provides the connection.Nothing is more frustrating than hotline responses like: “Please make sure the receivers are directly connected to the Speedport by cable,” or “Please restart the Speedport,” or “Please disconnect all other devices from the network.”
In these cases, you’re usually dealing with support staff who have no idea what happens beyond the router and that there is much more involved than just the Speedport and WLAN.
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