On 12/31/2015 10:57 PM, Don Wiss wrote:
On Thu, 31 Dec 2015, Don Y wrote:

Each "available" network drop is accompanied by a RG6Q drop and CAT3
for telco.

Not having a TV, I have been weak in running coax. A few key places have
it. Not all is QuadShield. Some that isn't I plan to replace with
QuadShield.

The phone and CATV drops are superfluous, here. I ran them as a convenience
to any future homeowner :

I plan on delivering video over the ethernet (hence the reason for four
drops in the living room -- so the TV can be placed in any corner!).

Phone is delivered via the earpieces with which occupants interact with
the house (VoIP gateway map the two incoming phone lines onto the network;
controller distributes it to the appropriate "occupant's" earpiece.)

There's an emergency phone hardwired to the incoming line that kicks in
during a prolonged power failure (as everything is PoE powered, a pair of
large UPS's on the main switch keeps EVERYTHING running during outages!).

There's also an "extended range" (~1W; best case, over 1000 yards) cordless
phone that can be tied into the VoIP system on demand (so it isn't
available to be hacked unless it is actively in use!). This lets me
wander the neighborhood (well out of the range of the BT earpiece)
and still interact with the house (via voice).

Most drops have two Ethernet.

Many rooms have two drops. None have more.

The family room has three, one on each of the front and back porches,
garage, store room, front hallway, kitchen cupboard, 2 on kitchen counter
(no RG6 there, though!), one in the equipment closet, etc.

[Foolishly ran CAT3 for the phone instead of a *second* CAT5e! frown
OTOH, if I need a second network drop at any given location, I can
install a PoE powered 2 port switch, there...]

I did not make that mistake. Each phone has either CAT5e or CAT6. So each
drop has two phone jacks.

There are two drops in my office. That means there are four phone jacks.
Each desk has a phone. That's two jacks. At one time I tried the MagicJack.
I was able to send the output down a line into the cellar and it went into
the PBX as a CO line. It then appeared on all the phones. But it was crap.

There are two drops in each bedroom (I use a bedroom as my office,
presently). It allows me to locate the office's network switch (too
many machines in the office to get by with 1 -- or even *10* -- drops!)
in one or the other corner of the room. The other drop is unused.

In the bedrooms, the two drops (again, usually at opposite corners of
the room) allow me to site something akin to a "smart TV" in either
corner -- which gives some flexibility as to where the bed and other
furniture will lie.

Again, no need for wires to "phones" in those locations.

There are three WiFi AP's tucked away around the house (typically
attached to Jboxes mounted in the ceiling of closets -- with PoE,
no need to worry about access to an electric outlet! : ). But,
the AP's are never used (no need to as there's wire everywhere!)

I have only one. Being on the top floor of a triplex it does not get out
into the first floor extension. And an a/c duct blocks it to the master
bedroom. I plan to move it to a closet on the floor below. It should then
cover everything.

In my case, they were a nod to future homeowners. Out-of-the-way
locations that wouldn't cosmetically clutter up the house interior.
Running wire is cheap -- *if* you do it all at the same time! :

There are no "available" network (or phone) drops in the bathroom.

All bathrooms have a phone (not a Panasonic proprietary). When alone it is
convenient to answer calls there, and to answer the door intercom (though I
can't tell which door). Some of the people at the door can be sent away.
And the UPS/mailman can be told to leave the package, and I'll come down to
get it.

My plan is to make the camera/speaker/microphone unit that represents
the "doorbell" resemble (in appearance and function) one of the HAL9000
terminals in _2001_. No "button" for visitors to push (the machine
can notice them walking up and "prompt" them: "How can I help you?"
etc.).

Unfortunately, it is proving difficult to find a large diameter, (3+")
optically clear lens to place in front of the camera lens! Plastic
wouldn't fare well (scratches).

I have three cameras at the front door,

No cameras. I have long thought of one aimed out the front. It would get
the areaway, the stoop and the sidewalk.

I have two on each corner of the house covering each "side" from two
different angles (eliminate blind spots). Additionally, one at the
front door watching the approach, another watching the *door* (i.e.,
the visitor's back) and the third acting as "doorbell", as
described above.

Each of these "dedicated drops" has a local processor (PoE, remember?).
So, each camera can implement its own motion detection locally -- instead
of burdening some "central computer" with that task. So, things
scale nicely (adding another camera doesn't overload a central shared
"motion detecting" resource!)

Likewise, the "network speaker/microphone" processors can do speech
recognition locally instead of passing that task onto another device.
Ditto for all the other dedicated devices.