home network setup

[jburvant]

My wife and I are building a house, and my wife’s friend, who is installing our surround sound, suggested we include a few Ethernet wall connections. I was just wondering what types of things I should be looking for, as far as what wires they should be using? Whats the best router for running wired connections and wireless? I figure, I’ll be hooking up my tivo, ps3, and desktop to the wired connections, and have the wireless for the our laptops. The house is about 2700 sq. feet.

Any suggestions yall have would be appreciated, as well as suggestions on an ideal setup for a home wireless/wired network.
thanks.

[Panama Red]

Wired is more reliable and slightly faster than wireless. I'd recommend installing ethernet wall outlets in any room where you plan to have a computer. Your installer can install ethernet, cable and phone in the same wall box. Linksys routers are about the best consumer grade you can buy and the WRT54GL has long been a preferred unit here due to the ability to handle custom firmware. Most folks install their equipment in the basement of new homes but I've seen better wireless coverage when the router is installed on an upper floor.

[glc]

Have all the data cables terminated in a central location where you have electricity, phone, and cable - and plan on installing the modem and router there. It should be as close to the center of the house as possible, preferably on a middle floor. They should use Cat5e at the least. It would NOT hurt to have a data outlet and an electrical outlet in the attic in case you have to put a wireless access point up there. If you are going to do this, your central termination point can be anywhere, basement is fine to keep it out of the way.

[mojo]

Actually if you're building a new house I would really suggest running conduit everywhere so that cabling can easily be replaced in future years when newer standards come out. No matter which type of cable you install now it WILL at some point be obsolete.

[jburvant]

thank you for all the tips, my wife and i are meeting with the electrician tomorrow.