Re: Home ethernet

There's no xtalk between UTPs, they can be run in large bundles
together.  The reason a coax in each location is nice is that it is
better/cheaper to use for some applications.  Some examples off the top
of my head are: cable/sat TV, cable internet, external antenna's, audio
(SPIDF-coax or RCA stereo), CCTV (security cameras).  You often can use
cat5e to carry these signals but the balans / converters needed to do
this usually are pretty pricey (hundreds of dollars).  By having 2x coax
and 2xcat5e/6 you have a lot of flexibility especially when running to
one centralized patch panel.

A couple real world examples of things you might want to do with a
system like this:
1. A client of mine had a small TV in the kitchen but had no space for a
sat box in the kitchen.  Since the kitchen and living room are open they
wanted it slaved to the living room TV box.  We took the coax output of
the TV box split it and sent one through the patch panel to the kitchen
TV then the other to the local TV.  Problem solved but needed 2 coax
jacks at the living room location.

2. You have an antenna on the room and want to feed a MythTV HD backend
in your bedroom.  The coax running from the antenna on the roof
terminates at the patch panel and you can patch it to whatever outlet
your mythtv backend is on in the bedroom.  Later if you wish to split
the frontend from the backend and move the server downstairs just
repatch then connect both to the house network and you're done.

Even though coax is decreasing in usage for many things it is valuable
enough to have and the cost is really low enough to make it worthwhile.
I should also point out that because it is an assumed infrastructure in
many houses (do to cable and satellite TV mostly) it is not unlikely it
will be used for some new tech as well (like SPIDF did).

Lastly, I should point out that you probably want to patch down all the
cat 5e/6 runs in EIA/TIA 586A on the panel.  Then your faceplates can
contain 1 phone (RJ11) and one ethernet (RJ45) for most plates and any
combination for special locations (places you need 2 eth or 2 phones).
Changing between a phone and eth jack is all done at the faceplate so is
a fast and cheap change if you need it later.

I REALLY hate to see people stuck with terrible LV systems in their
house and for Linux geeks it's SO much worse.  Nothing like from Telco
to Cable with a 5 minute patch at the panel or throwing an asterisk
server on a particular set of jacks for testing or full VOIP replacement
of AT&T.

Hope this helps,

On Sun, 2011-03-13 at 11:51 -0500, Larry Garfield wrote:
> - Is there a crosstalk problem running coax and UTP that closely together in 
> parallel?  I know you can't do that for electrical lines, but I don't know 
> about UTP and coax.
> 
> - Why, exactly, is everyone so big on coax? :-)  I've never used it for 
> anything other than cable TV or cable-to-modem service.  Ethernet strikes me 
> as far more useful, so I am at a loss for why the contractor just assumed I 
> wanted coax jacks coming out my ears, or why Ian below is suggesting a 2-coax 
> plate.  Does coax have some use that I don't know of?  My inclination would be 
> single coax to a room and then multiple ethernet jacks all over the place, not 
> vice versa.

-- 
Trev Peterson
Advanced Reality
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 847 406 9018

-- 
Linux Users Of Northern Illinois (Chicago) - Technical Discussion 
http://luni.org/mailman/listinfo/luni