This might help.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8478768_difference-between-rg6-cat5-coax.html

I would find another electrician. Always go with Cat6 now when doing any network wiring. There is no cost difference anymore. You do not want Cat5. Cat5e will barely handle 1 GB speed. Cat6 is designed for gigabit speed and will supposedly handle up to 2-3 GB speed. Strait Cat5 will only handle 100 MB speed. You want at least Cat5e or better yet Cat6.

Having said that, there is technology to run ethernet over coax (RG6) but it's a solution looking for a problem and is very expensive right now. I think it was mainly developed because so many existing houses have coax to each room for TV but no ethernet. However, I believe wireless ethernet or ethernet over electrical wiring will solve that problem for most people. If you are doing whole house wiring, my bet is on ethernet (cat6 and up). That is what I am doing in my whole house remodel.

One thing you might consider is putting conduit to one or two outlets in each room so you have future flexibility in types of wire. for instance if you want to switch to optical cable, you can easily do it with conduit. I am doing that in my whole house remodel. The conduit in upstairs rooms will run into the attic. The downstairs room's conduit will run into the basement. I then have two big pieces of conduit running from the basement to the attic. The wiring closet is in the basement, where all the switches and patch panels are located. One of the large conduits currently holds 7 runs of Cat6 from the basement to the attic, three to each bedroom. That's so anyone can move a TV and/or computer around for different room configurations.

This post was edited by rmtdoug on Sat, Oct 18, 14 at 22:42

Thanks for the great info. RG6 is used for tv, correct? We will have Comcast cable. Am I correct that cable internet would also come through the same RG6 cord? And then I could connect a wireless router to the RG6 outlet to have a wireless network?

The electrician should know this, but you will need RG6 to your cable modem. Ideally you would run 4-5 rg6 cables from a central panel to the exterior where utilities come in. That will give you flexibility for cable, dish, etc.

The wiring to get from Comcast to wireless would be:

RG6 --> cable modem --> cat5 --> wireless router --> wifi

Hope that helps, but you definitely want rg6 from exterior to wherever your want your cable modem.

My apologies. When you said whether to run Cat5 or RG6 to the location of your cable modem, I assumed the modem was already wired.

Yes, cable TV is via RG6, which is called coax. If you buy your internet access from your cable provider, your internet comes to the modem over this same RG6. To distribute your internet throughout your home, you need a cat6 or at least cat5e wire from your modem to your router. Then you can change to wireless if that is what you want to do.

This post was edited by rmtdoug on Sun, Oct 19, 14 at 3:15

Yes, basically your cable modem converts the internet data coming in on the RG6 from the cable company into data that the router can understand. Your router is the heart of your home network and it is all ethernet. You send the internet data from your router to all your devices in your home either via wireless or wired ethernet.

You need a HARD STOP at this point. running cable now is cheap. running it later is very expensive and a huge hassle.

you really need to educate yourself or get a better electrician who has a clue about low voltage wiring.

If you're going to have a router/cable modem hub, you probably need multiple cat6 cables going to that location, as well as at a minimum one rg6 and more if you ever think you'll be doing satellite

Seriously, this is not an area you want to make mistakes in unless you're a luddite and never plan to run any technology in your home going forward.

pprioroh - What you said is exactly why in my earlier post I introduced the idea of running conduit to all low-voltage outlets, and my house is 100 years old.

We can't have dish in our development, so it will always be cable. What I really plan on doing is using a good ac router like the Apple airport extreme. I feel like ac wireless is plenty fast enough for me and wireless should only get faster. I currently have two rg6 cables running to the office...one for tv and one for the modem. I've also got rg6 running to all rooms where I might have a tv. I currently don't have cat wiring going to those rooms because as I said I plan on utilizing wireless. I have a wired phone in the kitchen and plan on having wireless handsets in other rooms.

ac wireless is nice if your devices support it and you can keep a strong signal. A great many devices and locations will not. That is the problem with all wireless. If you have opportunity to run wired ethernet, do so without hesitation.

ps. Unless you live in a multi-family building with no line of sight from your unit, your development association cannot prohibit you from installing a dish or antenna attached to the house you own. This is federal law. You have the right to access over-the-air signals wherever you live.

Ok, I will talk with the electrician about installing wired ethernet. And very good to know regarding the federal law. It's definitely in the covenants...strange. Thanks for all of your helpful advice and feedback!