Home Networks 
Frequently Asked
Questions
About Home Networks
Installing a home network gives you the ability to share files, printing and Internet access. It also gives you the connectivity to play shared network games. A home network could include only two PCs but many people are wiring network ports throughout their homes. Ports that can be used for laptops or to accommodate non PC devices such as the Audiotron, a home network appliance or network camera.
Connecting Your Network Stations
Put simply, a home network connection consists of a sleeve of 4 color coded pair of wire running from one jack to patch panel port. Patch cables connect the patch panel ports to hub or switch ports and the station cables connect the station jack to the network card in the PC. The hub or switch provides the central point for connectivity. When running multiple stations they should all run to a central location. In my home I ran all the stations to our garage where they terminate into a patch panel. A patch panel consists of multiple jacks mounted together on a panel. I mounted an Ethernet hub just below and used one-foot patch cables to connect the stations to the hub ports. Category 5 cable was used for the station runs as well as for the patch and station cables. Patch and station cables are the same except for their size and come with RJ-45 connectors at both ends. The wire used to run from the station jack to the patch panel comes on a roll or in a box and has to be terminated at both ends.
Terminating At The Panel And Stations
The type of panel
and jacks that we used had 110 termination points. Category 5
wire consists of 4 pair of wires and the termination points are
color coded to the wire. The termination tool was included with
the jack kit that we purchased at our local large hardware store.
For detailed installation examples look at:
New Technology Home - Home Network Wiring
New Technology Home - Whole House Wiring
New Technology Home - Internet Sharing
This guide was written by Raymond Melnik, a Telecommunications Specialist and Systems Engineer who has been certified in Northern Telecom, Cisco, Microsoft and Novell.
With contributions from the glossary by Sergey Polak.
