Ok , heres the deal. New house being built as we speak and tonite we wired all the Cat5e throughout the house and have it all ending up in a utility closet. The sheetrock is scheduled to go up tomorrow depending on todays inspection. So where to go from here?

Basicly, you need 3 things. The network cards , the cables and the router.
If you have XP it should be really simple, if not plug and play.
Just after you get it all hooked up, go to your server or any computer and start the set up. On inital boot up it should see the cards and see the connection and start to adjust.

I'm older school and i just went with a coaxal network.
no router, no software just a fat ass wire and some cards.

p.s. Its alot easier if you get a router with a plug for cable or dsl instead dedicating a computer as a server!
I think all modern ones come that nowdays though
i dont really mess with cat5 cept on friends computers.

Looks like I'm just gonna end up getting a router and and hooking that up to my either my cable or DSL modem depending on what we end up with in our new home.

Just dont go wireless!

I've known some kids, who go around in they're car and laptop and go through wireless networks and either ruin your shit or delete it.
I hate those assholes!

To do it right you need a 19" rack, a punchdown block to terminate the connections and a switch to connect them to.

Did the builder put in a box to terminate the connections?

You'll need one of those, some punchdown boards to place into it.

And get a big one. I went with the standard size the builder put in and I'm already busting out of it.

Uhm no, just secure your shit! If you AP is open I'm gonna use it.

bwhahaha. War driving is fun

I installed wireless for my friend, I left it more open then parris hiltons legs.

Secure it and most of all, don't broadcast SSID! The latter will keep most of them away.

We went by the house today and they left all the cat5 alone that we routed to the same junction boxes as the cable and even added another junction box to the dining room/study for the extra cable in there. How the closet where everything would terminate has been sheetrocked allowing no access to my cables. Not a big deal though, we left enough slack to where it is hanging from the ceiling to the floor and made sure to label each cable on both ends. Looks like I'm gonna be doing some shopping tomorrow at Fry's for the equipment I need. BTW I ended up using Cat5e and was wondering what the difference is if any other than the price and that is what kept me from getting the Cat6.

My company does cabling for offices. There is a purpose built piece for home use that mounts between 2 studs and has the switch and punch blocks all built in, and a door. It looks like a breakerbox when closed. I don't know what Fry's has, but there are some more professional supply houses. You might try Alltex on Midway in Addison, (might be Dallas there). If it were mine, I would use 2 plates of 4 or six ports. Make sure to punch them down to telco data standards to be nice to future techs. (ow o gw b bw g bw b). These look like your normal phone jack with 4 or six plugs in them. It will look pretty clean. They also mount to a standard electrical box like your phones do. Then you can wall mount a SOHO type switch. I guess if you are networking, then you are running DSL or cable mode, so add a phone jack or coax jack accordingly. Last, you will need a power plug for the switch/and or router and cable modem. If this is in a closet most people forget.

Damn I don't have an outlet in that closet. Looks like I'm gonna have to hire an electrician to add on in there after we close on the house. Come to think of it we should have had them added to all the walk-in closets and the utility closet. Oh well live and learn right.

You don't need Cat6. Cat5e is perfect. This link is discussing the cabling needs for gigabit networking...

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/Secti...le41-page4.php

Screw Cat5e and Cat6! I use barb wire!

i put the leviton 42" can in my house

lmao!!!!!!