I need to make some pre-wiring decisions for a new house we're building in Bridgeland. I want to make sure I run plenty of ethernet drops (especially downstairs), but don't want to overdo it because they cost too damn much. I'm not as concerned about the upstairs because I'll have easy access from the attic if I ever need to run more.
If any of you have solid network experience, I'd appreciate it if you could help answer the following questions.
1) Is it worth the extra cost to run Cat 6A cable? They charge $91 per drop to run Cat 5e. Upgrading to Cat 6 is an incremental $61 per drop ($152 total), and Cat 6A is another $30 per drop on top of that ($182 total). Note that the type of Cat 6A cable they run is unshielded (U/UTP).
2) Because of the fear of running too few cables, I'll probably have them run 1.5" flexible conduit from the panel box to a few key downstairs locations (Family Room, Study, and Patio) so I can run more cables later (or have the ability to run new cables if needed as technology evolves in the future). The conduits are $214 per run.
3) If I run the conduits, should I forgo paying the builder $182 per Cat 6A drop (and $91 per RG6 coax drop) and run the cables to those locations myself? I can get 1000' of Cat 6A U/UTP for ~$200, and I already own the RG6 and RJ45 compression tools.
4) Should I plan on running ethernet to a few ceiling locations for Wireless Access Points, or skip that and just use a wireless mesh system? The house will be fairly large...two story and approximately 5500 sq ft.
Thanks!
If any of you have solid network experience, I'd appreciate it if you could help answer the following questions.
1) Is it worth the extra cost to run Cat 6A cable? They charge $91 per drop to run Cat 5e. Upgrading to Cat 6 is an incremental $61 per drop ($152 total), and Cat 6A is another $30 per drop on top of that ($182 total). Note that the type of Cat 6A cable they run is unshielded (U/UTP).
2) Because of the fear of running too few cables, I'll probably have them run 1.5" flexible conduit from the panel box to a few key downstairs locations (Family Room, Study, and Patio) so I can run more cables later (or have the ability to run new cables if needed as technology evolves in the future). The conduits are $214 per run.
3) If I run the conduits, should I forgo paying the builder $182 per Cat 6A drop (and $91 per RG6 coax drop) and run the cables to those locations myself? I can get 1000' of Cat 6A U/UTP for ~$200, and I already own the RG6 and RJ45 compression tools.
4) Should I plan on running ethernet to a few ceiling locations for Wireless Access Points, or skip that and just use a wireless mesh system? The house will be fairly large...two story and approximately 5500 sq ft.
Thanks!