Organizing a MESS of Ethernet, Video & Phone wires.

MossRoad · Aug 12, 2016

ultrarunner said:
It's a hospital with no dedicated full time onsite IT

The IT firm does most of the upgrades on weekends... if there is a problem which I can't handle they will talk me through it and it is only me by default... but I have no IT training... just some good problem solving and many times problems are rudimentary.

I loved to use the velcro straps to bundle and appropriate length patch cords... neatness counts in my book.

Back in the day... like 20++ years ago the big issue was each floor was a loop and if one device was taken out the entire floor would be down... 99% of the time it was a disconnected or damaged connection.

All that old cable is still there plus the Cat5e that went in around 2000 and now we just recabled again in preparation for a merger... with wifi going in everywhere for paperless medical records.

Over the past 30 years in my employer's ceilings, attics, crawl spaces, elevator shafts, basements, false ceilings, walls, floors, remote offices, etc... I've installed and re-installed their entire network at least four times: serial cables, thick net, thin net, cat3, cat5, fiber and wireless, plus lots of telephone. Corporate took over control of I.T. several years ago and guess what? They don't do wiring. The have to hire it out.

ultrarunner · Aug 12, 2016

This is what is happening with the last install... they job it out.

Prior it was me running the cable... I'm 100% sure there are places in this building no one has seen for 30 years except for me!

CCWKen · Aug 12, 2016

I would never "wire" a new house today except for maybe a vertical fiber optic line to each floor. Everything has gone wireless already including video. It will only get better and faster as time goes on. Wires are dead! I don't even have to get up off the couch to see what's in the frig or to change the temperature of the room I'm in. I can do it all from a smart phone. If I had one.

Now, if I can just get the dog to bring me a beer instead of a bottle of ketchup, I'd be all set.

MossRoad · Aug 13, 2016

ultrarunner said:
This is what is happening with the last install... they job it out.

Prior it was me running the cable... I'm 100% sure there are places in this building no one has seen for 30 years except for me!

Same here. Me and the head Facilities guy are the only one's that have been in there since the 50's. We'd find old beer cans and dated newspapers up there.

Now what's really funny is there's places in this building that I can't fit into any more! :laughing:

ultrarunner · Aug 13, 2016

Same here... sad but true.

TomSeller · Aug 14, 2016

I was looking at some cables I ran at home during partial remodel "for future connection". Then wireless phones and network came along. Yahoo! Coiled them up and left them there for the "next guy" to wonder what they were for.

aeblank · Aug 15, 2016

CCWKen said:
Wires are dead!

I so *totally* disagree.
While wireless sure has gotten better, nothing beats the reliability of a wire....period.

Heck, if nothing else, the wifi access point needs a wire run from it to the router.

kcflhrc · Aug 15, 2016

CCWKen said:
Wires are dead!

I find this quite hilarious, but it's my business to know wires and the truth is wires are years and years away from being "Dead". All the new houses I install broadband in are wired with a minimum CAT 5 and Coax everywhere. My Direct TV is still wired with COAX and my Desktop PC still has a NIC card in it being used daily. A lot of Employers that have work from home employee's will not even allow a wireless connection, especially in the Health Care Industry. People also wonder when a fiber cable gets why their cell phone no longer works, what do you think connects the towers? It's certainly not magic.

prichard · Aug 15, 2016

aeblank said:
I so *totally* disagree.
While wireless sure has gotten better, nothing beats the reliability of a wire....period.

Heck, if nothing else, the wifi access point needs a wire run from it to the router.

The house I am currently designing will have as least a conduit to crawlspace from each BR and TV location. Likely I'll run Cat6 and no coax but I want to have easy ability. Never know if we'll end up having fiber to everything.

aeblank · Aug 15, 2016

prichard said:
The house I am currently designing will have as least a conduit to crawlspace from each BR and TV location. Likely I'll run Cat6 and no coax but I want to have easy ability. Never know if we'll end up having fiber to everything.

I ran a pair of cat-5e and coax to at least 2 locations per room. Been happy with it.
I also ran a small conduit from that box into the basement (ranch) that will eventually have a suspended ceiling.
Also ran a couple conduits from the basement ceiling into the attic, just in case.

I see the cat-5 as being the most "future proof". They make converters to run just about anything over a cat-5 cable....