4 ms·

For all but the smallest apartment buildings, this is not a good idea. Ethernet has a 100m limit. By the time you go up a wall, back down it, zig and zag aroun

For all but the smallest apartment buildings, this is not a good idea. Ethernet has a 100m limit. By the time you go up a wall, back down it, zig and zag around things in the ceiling, etc, you can quickly hit that limit. Then you can start getting errors such as packet loss, crosstalk, etc. Yes, it depends on the size and layout of your building (maybe your building has a comms cabinet on each floor, or wing, etc) but its better to have one set of training for all your installers, rather than have every one be different.

planteen 8y ago
I did technician work as a side job during college. It seemed like most dorms had data closets every floor/every other floor. Some buildings only had them in the attic and basement, but they were also usually limited to 4 levels. Are most large apartment buildings similar?
- kiallmacinnes 8y ago
  Does it really matter if there are comms closets nearby though? It wouldn't surprise me if fiber optic cable was cheaper than cat6 to buy in bulk (Copper is expensive, and the process to manufacture the copper cables is more complex), and if you're doing fiber to the building anyway, you still end up with a media converter - so there is likely no significant cost saving there either. It may actually be higher cost to have a centralised (within the building) media converter - ports need to be provisioned for the max possible customers up front. The class of hardware will likely be different too - matching enterprise style datacenter hardware, instead of the cheap and easy to replace stuff they send to customers...
  - planteen 8y ago
    This was 10 years ago, but the data closets had SFPs on the switches for the fiber. So the cost of the "media converter" was really low - just needed a few. There was existing CAT5 in the walls, all of the runs would be well less than 100 m which is why I brought up the comm closets. For a new builds, I have no idea for the cost difference. But for the insane number of buildings wired with CAT5/CAT5e/CAT6, this solution works well. Trying to pull fiber to replace CAT5 (as in without removing the drywall) would be very expensive and likely to damage the fiber.
Tijdreiziger 8y ago
The downside is that you then need to give your subscribers modems. The dorms in my university town have Ethernet in them, and it's a hook-up-your-own-device type of deal.

planteen 8y ago

I did technician work as a side job during college. It seemed like most dorms had data closets every floor/every other floor. Some buildings only had them in the attic and basement, but they were also usually limited to 4 levels. Are most large apartment buildings similar?

kiallmacinnes 8y ago
Does it really matter if there are comms closets nearby though? It wouldn't surprise me if fiber optic cable was cheaper than cat6 to buy in bulk (Copper is expensive, and the process to manufacture the copper cables is more complex), and if you're doing fiber to the building anyway, you still end up with a media converter - so there is likely no significant cost saving there either. It may actually be higher cost to have a centralised (within the building) media converter - ports need to be provisioned for the max possible customers up front. The class of hardware will likely be different too - matching enterprise style datacenter hardware, instead of the cheap and easy to replace stuff they send to customers...
- planteen 8y ago
  This was 10 years ago, but the data closets had SFPs on the switches for the fiber. So the cost of the "media converter" was really low - just needed a few. There was existing CAT5 in the walls, all of the runs would be well less than 100 m which is why I brought up the comm closets. For a new builds, I have no idea for the cost difference. But for the insane number of buildings wired with CAT5/CAT5e/CAT6, this solution works well. Trying to pull fiber to replace CAT5 (as in without removing the drywall) would be very expensive and likely to damage the fiber.

Tijdreiziger 8y ago

The downside is that you then need to give your subscribers modems. The dorms in my university town have Ethernet in them, and it's a hook-up-your-own-device type of deal.