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birdamy

Help with adding cable in prep for high-speed internet

Amy
8 years ago

We are currently DIY remodeling our kitchen. The walls are down to the studs, and the exterior electrical box is easily accessible through the kitchen wall. We currently have slow DSL but will someday upgrade to high-speed internet. We do not have TV so the upgrade would be just for internet connection. A friend told us we should run both Cat6 and Coax out to the electrical box, so that in the future when we choose either ATT or Comcast they will be able to hook up at the box.

We believe we should run wires now while the wall is open. We can easily run wires from the electrical box, through the wall, and up into the attic/crawl-space. My husband is skilled at electrical work and has done all the other wiring in the kitchen, but we are naive about the wiring for internet. Our plan is based on a bit of internet research, please forgive me if it's whacky - this is why I'm seeking confirmation of our plan. We would much appreciate somebody double-checking our thought process and conclusions, and tell me if we are on the correct track.

  1. Run both quad-shield coaxial and cat6. That will allow us to choose a provider based on their offerings and not be limited by the cable.
  2. Put a coil of 50 feet of each type of cable into the crawl-space, run it through the wall and out to the electrical box. For now, it will just sit coiled unused in the crawl-space, and unconnected at the electrical box. When we upgrade to a high speed ISP the provider will hook up at our electrical box, and we will have 50 feet of wire in the crawl-space to run to the appropriate destination.
  3. I'm looking at "RCA 50-Feet Quad Shield Coax Cable (DH50QCF)" - is that a reasonable choice for the coax? Is there a meaningful difference in quality between different brands? Does this have the proper connectors?
  4. I'm having trouble figuring out what to use for Cat6. Can somebody recommend a specific product?
  5. I am not trying to plan the interior routing or boxes to terminate the wires now, does that make sense, or am I setting myself up for a problem downstream?
  6. Is there something I'm missing? A pointer to a tutorial on wiring a house for internet would be helpful, either a prior thread on the topic or a third party website. Is there a better forum I should use if I have follow-up questions, or is this a reasonable place to ask for help?

Thank you in advance SO MUCH for your help. Amy (and husband James too)

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