Home Networking / Fios Setup In New Build
KennethWeis
Newbie

I have a home under construction in a sub division. My home has been framed and there is a roof and electrical has been wired. A subcontractor is coming out in next few days to run cat6 cables throughout the house. Drywall is not yet up and I figured it was good time to have fios installed. I want Fios to install my ONT in the basement of my home and I want my router to be in my office on the main floor. Will the technician setup the ONT in the basement then run Ethernet to the den and connect the ONT to the router? Since I am having cat6 ran throughout the home and it needs to terminate somewhere, should I just have all the cat6 cables from throughout the house run to a network switch connected to router?

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Re: Home Networking / Fios Setup In New Build
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

I recommend you have all Ethernet cables to all come to a single point in your home.  It could be your basement or your office.  It just depends on where you want your network hub to live.  I recommend the basement, as it's easier to hide all the wires and gear.  Some people like to have it more accessible, and put it in the living space; your call.

The gear involved is something that terminates the Ethernet cables and the switches.  For the termination, you've several choices, including a wide variety of patch panels or even a 110 block.  I installed a 110 block in my home 20 years ago, as it gave me flexibility to run phone or data over each cable.  In fact, some of my old 100Mbps runs used to carry both.  But those have been long since upgraded to 1Gbps only.  The 110 block made it very easy to change.  These days, I'd probably install an Ethernet patch panel instead of a 110 block, as I've no need for wired phone jacks.

As for the router location, Edg1 gives excellent advice.  My router sits in my office.  The ONT is in the basement next to my switch, 110 block and all the patch cables.  The WAN port from the ONT goes up to an Ethernet jack into my office.  Two additional Ethernet runs from my office carry LAN connections from the router back to the basement, where I have two inexpensive self-managed switches.  They feed gigabit Ethernet to the rest of the house, including three mesh network nodes that improve WiFi coverage.

I also have a NAS installed in the basement.  It's nice and cool down there year round, so it's a great place to keep this always on equipment.  And, a big UPS powers the ONT, switches and NAS.  Another UPS in my office powers the router while the best located mesh node has it's own UPS.  So, I get to keep internet for a while during power outages.

Another recommendation is to run more cables than you think you need now.  My office has five CAT-5e's and a coax going to the jack near the router.  It's given me lots of flexibility.  Whenever I pull new cable, I almost always pull one more Ethernet than needed.  It provides a spare in case of problems or gives room for unanticipated expansion.

As for what Verizon will do, I'll be interested to learn if they will even install fios before the home is finished.  They will want power available for the ONT and router, so they can activate and test the system.  You mentioned electrical is done, but if the plugs aren't powered up yet, I'd be surprised if Verizon will install.

I also doubt they will pull Ethernet through your open walls.  Decide where you want everything and pull Ethernet yourself, or have your contractor do it.  The Verizon tech will use Ethernet cables you've installed. 

Finally, know it's easy to pull cable from an unfinished basement to a 1st floor room.  I've pulled many cables in my home over the years.  That's why I've five CAT-5e's and coax in my office.  🙂  If you're reasonably handy, this can be a fun job and it saves on contractor expenses.  YouTube is your friend.

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Re: Home Networking / Fios Setup In New Build
Edg1
Community Leader
Community Leader

The fiber will type ran to the same side as the electric service. Next to the electric panel you could have a backer board installed for all your communications wiring. If the router will be in the office you'll want to run two cat6s so one can feed back down to the basement to feed all of the cat6 that goes to each room in the house. The cleanest way to deal with all the cabling is to install a network rack. You could also just mount a shelf for the switch and put rj45 ends on the cable. Honestly wire everything while the walls are open. TVs, games systems, streaming devices. Now is the time definitely run ethernet to every room of the house an one outside to the patio/deck for an outside ap. Also you might want to run coax to each room as well in case you ever use verizon tv or get a cable provider. 

Re: Home Networking / Fios Setup In New Build
Cang_Household
Community Leader
Community Leader

You mainly need to consider two issues: WiFi coverage and wired LAN distribution. Since you want your router in the office, probably for the sake of WiFi coverage, you would need to identify a way to reach all the CAT wire terminals throughout the house because the LAN ports are also at the back of the router.

You can terminate all CAT wires into your office, but make sure to pull a CAT wire to where the ONT would be. OR, as Edg1 suggested, pull two wires to your office, terminate them in the basement. One would feed Ethernet WAN from the ONT, another would back feed LAN from the router to the basement. At the basement, you need a switch to connect to all other CAT cables.

If you want TV service down the road, you need to pull coax wire around the house as well.

Re: Home Networking / Fios Setup In New Build
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

I recommend you have all Ethernet cables to all come to a single point in your home.  It could be your basement or your office.  It just depends on where you want your network hub to live.  I recommend the basement, as it's easier to hide all the wires and gear.  Some people like to have it more accessible, and put it in the living space; your call.

The gear involved is something that terminates the Ethernet cables and the switches.  For the termination, you've several choices, including a wide variety of patch panels or even a 110 block.  I installed a 110 block in my home 20 years ago, as it gave me flexibility to run phone or data over each cable.  In fact, some of my old 100Mbps runs used to carry both.  But those have been long since upgraded to 1Gbps only.  The 110 block made it very easy to change.  These days, I'd probably install an Ethernet patch panel instead of a 110 block, as I've no need for wired phone jacks.

As for the router location, Edg1 gives excellent advice.  My router sits in my office.  The ONT is in the basement next to my switch, 110 block and all the patch cables.  The WAN port from the ONT goes up to an Ethernet jack into my office.  Two additional Ethernet runs from my office carry LAN connections from the router back to the basement, where I have two inexpensive self-managed switches.  They feed gigabit Ethernet to the rest of the house, including three mesh network nodes that improve WiFi coverage.

I also have a NAS installed in the basement.  It's nice and cool down there year round, so it's a great place to keep this always on equipment.  And, a big UPS powers the ONT, switches and NAS.  Another UPS in my office powers the router while the best located mesh node has it's own UPS.  So, I get to keep internet for a while during power outages.

Another recommendation is to run more cables than you think you need now.  My office has five CAT-5e's and a coax going to the jack near the router.  It's given me lots of flexibility.  Whenever I pull new cable, I almost always pull one more Ethernet than needed.  It provides a spare in case of problems or gives room for unanticipated expansion.

As for what Verizon will do, I'll be interested to learn if they will even install fios before the home is finished.  They will want power available for the ONT and router, so they can activate and test the system.  You mentioned electrical is done, but if the plugs aren't powered up yet, I'd be surprised if Verizon will install.

I also doubt they will pull Ethernet through your open walls.  Decide where you want everything and pull Ethernet yourself, or have your contractor do it.  The Verizon tech will use Ethernet cables you've installed. 

Finally, know it's easy to pull cable from an unfinished basement to a 1st floor room.  I've pulled many cables in my home over the years.  That's why I've five CAT-5e's and coax in my office.  🙂  If you're reasonably handy, this can be a fun job and it saves on contractor expenses.  YouTube is your friend.