Satellite, TV, Phone & Network Wiring Wiring
TV Cable Wiring
TV cable wiring is and essential part of integrated smart home wiring. Among other advantages of wiring a home’s TV’s into a smart panel, switching over to a satellite provider for ones Television needs or adding a modulated camera picture from a front door to a certain free TV channel like channel 117, it makes a lot of sense to integrate all a home’s TV cable wiring into the smart home wiring. When installing wiring for television into a home, most installers will just run a TV cable to a location behind each television. At first glance this seems like the correct thing to do, but an experienced designer will tell you that you need to consider what type of programs you would like to watch. The days of digital and High Definition have arrived and for the foreseeable future, in Canada, TV’s will not be using their own tuners to decode a cable or satellite providers digital or digital high definition signals. Wiring must therefore be thought out carefully. An experienced professional will notify you of these potential pitfalls at the construction stage rather than at the finishing stage of a TV installation. The customer must also be made aware of the wiring for the option of Telus TV which requires a different type of wire than Cablevision or Satellite.
Satellite Wiring
In today’s world, wiring for satellite systems must be seriously considered. Satellite providers offer unique solutions and advantages over cable and phone company’s products for Television viewing such as service to second homes or RV’s etc. Satellite companies are also less fussy about suites. Most people know that satellite offers more channels and clearer sound and picture images, so if anyone wants to be prepared for the future, then satellite must be in their plans. Satellite already offers high speed data transmission for customers outside of the regular TV and telephone company’s service areas, and the day is not far off when we can expect to have a satellite company offer competitive rates and speeds for data (internet) transmission. A little wiring now may pay for itself ten times over today and in the future. Again, the unique needs of satellite high definition wiring and pay per view needs should also be considered so make sure to get a wiring designer who understands all of requirements and can explain to you the advantages and disadvantages of integrating your satellite wiring with your smart home wiring!
Telephone wiring
Although many people consider telephone wiring to be a less important factor in today’s world of wonderful rechargeable cordless phone technology, wiring for phones still needs to be given serious thought. For many years now the local phone company has been calling for telephones to be wired using Cat 5E or Ethernet cable. (Cat 5E or Ethernet cable, which was originally designed for computer networking is now the primary choice for telephone wiring as well as hundreds of other communication devices.) Why use Cat 5E cables? Well there are several reasons for this. Firstly, Cat 5E cable due to its design, will have less, if any, cross talk for users of multiple phone lines in the same residence. Secondly the world of video phone has arrived, and although it is not yet widely used, the technology is here to stay, and Cat 5E cable by its design is capable of carrying full video signal as well as audio. There are also thousands of products on the market which have been designed to use Cat 5E cable to transmit their signal or information over Cat 5E so even if you plan on using cordless phones around your home, having an extra Cat5E wire at any given location may come in very handy in the near future!
Computer Network Wiring
Most homes today especially in Canada have more than one computer. Most computer users want access to the World Wide Web or the internet. You used the internet to get the info which you are reading right now, or someone else did and printed it for you. Generally speaking most households would not want to pay for a separate internet connection for each of their computers, so it makes sense, especially monetarily, to share the internet services for the entire household, even if there are multiple families or tenants. If the household has more than one computer then the house needs a computer network. Computer networks come in two different forms, wireless networks and wired networks. If you want to only consider wireless networks to save yourself money there are a few risks and constraints that you should know about.
Wireless versus wired data transmission
Even though wireless data transmission has come a long way over the past few years, it does have its limitations and security risks. The security risks of having a wireless computer network are well documented. Tapping into a hard wired computer network is virtually unheard of while tapping into a wireless one is quite common. If you have a laptop computer then you probably have accessed someone else’s computer network! Once access to a network is gained, that is when tampering happens! I wouldn’t want to bore anyone with the numbers but speed is still a huge factor between hardwired and wireless computer networks! All of the computers on a hardwired network run at 100% while all of the computers on a wireless network share the total speed which is already a fraction of a hardwired networks speed. This means that if there are five computers accessing a network each computer gets one fifth of the networks capacity. There are other problems with wireless networks which are very common. There are many reasons why a wireless computer signal may be very limited or lost. All wireless computer networks are restricted by the government to be on a certain bandwidth or radio frequency. This is so that your computer network doesn’t wipe out the signal from a local radio station, police communication or other radio transmission. This can be a problem for your computer networks communications because not only are you using this “free” radio frequency for your computer network, but you are also using it for your cordless phone, your cellular phone and any other radio controlled device which you may have in your home. It doesn’t stop there, even if you only use a wireless computer network and no other wireless devices, your neighbors’ wireless devices also only use that same radio frequency. Obviously, your computer network is designed to have a limited range so that it doesn’t interfere with your neighbour’s wireless devices. This can cause you problems too, due to the limited power of your wireless network, building materials and other factors like distance, can totally eliminate wireless computer network signals. Wireless data transmission problems are difficult and expensive to trouble shoot, due to so many variable and unknown factors, whereas a hardwired computer network is quick and easy to troubleshoot, should problems arise at all, since it is a controlled environment! Therefore it is strongly recommended that if you know where you may be using a computer or other computer network device such as a networked printer then a Cat 5E computer network wire should be run to that location from your smart panel.
Other computer network wiring considerations
Computer network wiring has been installed for about 10 years using Cat 5 E wire. Cat 5 E wire is designed and capable of 100 Mbps speed. Homeowners who are astute about installing the latest wiring into their home will also consider installing the latest wire which is designed to run at 1 gigabit speed, which is ten times the speed of Cat 5E.