On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:29:24 -0800, Oren wrote:

On Sat, 24 Dec 2011 17:21:37 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

For new installations, I usually recommend running conduit in the
walls from a central location (star topology). This is roughly the
way structured wiring is done.

You've mentioned the star topology twice now. I agree it is the best
way to build the wired network. If one segment goes down, the rest of
the network is still up. Easier to trouble shoot a single segment.

Yep. That's the ONLY way to do ethernet over twisted pair. Bus
topology is for 10base2 coax and POTS phones. Ring is for fiber or
token ring.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ethernet+topology&tbm=isch

Using a ring topology means more troubleshooting.

Not really. Ring topology is used for fiber because it offers
improved reliability. Break the ring at any point, and the data
simply goes around the long way until the break is fixed. Two breaks
just means a small section of the ring is inaccessible. The rest of
the ring still works. It really makes more sense over a large
distance, such as going around the entire SF Bay area, rather than
just around the house.

The problem with home networks and fiber rings is that there just
isn't any affordable hardware available to make it happen. It's also
not really necessary at home, unless you have kids, puppies, or rats
chewing on the cables and need improved uptime.

The reason I keep mentioning star topology is that many users are very
familiar with the common POTS (plain old telephone service) bus type
topology. Find the cable that's snaking through the walls, and just
tap in with the phone instrument. That's convenient, but doesn't work
with 10/100baseT ethernet. It DOES work with 10base2 coax cable
ethernet, but that's limited to 10Mbits/sec half-duplex. I just
wanted to make sure that the OP doesn't try to wire his house in the
style of the POTS phone.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com
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