| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| OldSaltyDog |
Posted - 07/12/2015 : 7:05:41 PM
The house is 11 yrs old, and is full of structured wiring leading into a Futuresmart patch panel. At the time, the cost to put in fiber through the whole house was only $700 more, so we went ahead - just in case it ever became popular. In the years since, wireless has exploded but you never read about fiber.
Has anyone ever used fiber optic in their systems? If so, any pearls of wisdom would be appreciated
Thanks! |
| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| vekokit877 |
Posted - 01/28/2021 : 08:19:59 AM
stusviews, thanks. I may well go that route. A switch on each end of a wire gives me a lot more flexibility. Thanks! |
| LisaMiddleton |
Posted - 06/22/2019 : 12:53:15 AM
Fiber optic is expensive but it is worth it. You don't have to think twice about it because it is the best choice you can have. |
| Kaktyc |
Posted - 03/25/2019 : 5:02:33 PM
I hired a company that ran fiber to all tvs in my house. Cable is realy expensive but now i am future proof . |
| Geo |
Posted - 07/15/2015 : 05:29:24 AM
I use just two hard wired nodes in my house. I had eight but when we did some improvements the trades managed to run a nail through six of them. Murphy's law in action. Wireless is not a security problem for me as the signal doesn't reach to the end of my property in any direction. But it is noticeably slower. |
| OldSaltyDog |
Posted - 07/14/2015 : 7:51:39 PM
stusviews, thanks. I may well go that route. A switch on each end of a wire gives me a lot more flexibility. Thanks! |
| stusviews |
Posted - 07/14/2015 : 5:06:13 PM
It's less costly and much easier to daisy chain Ethernet switches. Fully plug 'n play, nothing to set up.
And you're not limited to four ports. |
| OldSaltyDog |
Posted - 07/14/2015 : 4:38:04 PM
Geo, thanks! I had thought of daisy-chaining routers too. I agree that I'm speed limited by my ISP. I'm not even paying them for the max they could provide, so there is no doubt that my speed limits are set by them. I still really like wired, though, for the speed, reliability and security. I'll have to go explore the costs of a couple of fiber converters and see where I'm at.
Thanks for all the good ideas and thoughts. I'm new to this forum, and it looks like a great bunch of folks. |
| Geo |
Posted - 07/14/2015 : 3:51:53 PM
The speed, of course, is limited by the data rate you're getting from the outside and your modem. I doubt your IP is giving you sufficient bandwidth to justify fiber. Most routers have just a few hard wired nodes but can handle quite a few WiFi nodes - the speed of wireless is not as good as hard wired, but, generally speaking, it's acceptable for most work. How about daisy-chaining routers? |
| OldSaltyDog |
Posted - 07/13/2015 : 6:37:13 PM
Thanks guys. In some rooms, all of the Cat 5E and RG 6 terminals are in use. Expanding the capacity of the wired system without having to run new wires would be one possible use for the fiber cables. Doesn't make much sense to spend a lot just to have some extra wires, though. One use might be to make one additional run from where the outside cable hits the patch panel to where I have the modem and WiFi router. Not so much a speed thing, but getting the extra connection. |
| Geo |
Posted - 07/13/2015 : 10:36:31 AM
I agree with stusview's comment. Also, you will need a bunch of interface terminals to convert electrical signals to optical and vice versa. They're not exactly cheap and you need to know what you're doing. Unless you live in a 50,000 sq.ft. house, need to communicate very fast over significant distances or in an environment with extremely high levels of electromagnetic interference, stick with the regular Ethernet wiring - or wireless, if running wires would bee too much of a hassle. |
| stusviews |
Posted - 07/12/2015 : 7:19:35 PM
Wired is substantially more reliable than wireless and fiber optic is significantly faster than copper. What is you intended use of the fiber optic cabling? For example, there are fiber optic Ethernet switches and Ethernet converters. |
