TubeNet

Wanna wire up some rooms with data, telephone, and coax. I am starting from scratch and need everything including the testers, tracers, tools, and cable/termination components. Gonna do this in the attic and drill through the top plates in interior walls.

Anyway, I am looking for some good shops online to buy the gear from. I already checked out the local Home Depot and the prices look competitive, but am wondering where you networking nerds like to buy your stuff.

I usually start with Newegg. Cyberguys probably has everything thing you need -- maybe not always at the best price, and their shipping tends to be a little high.

I'm obviously lazy. I have wireless stuff.

Oh yeah, stuff from home depot is AOK. I prefer the immediate gratification of getting stuff now!

I also vote for Home Despot. That's the way to go.

Radio Shack has always worked for me. They seem to know a little more than the lumber guys.

http://www.cat5cableguy.com

When I have needed cable, they have had very low prices.... and were also helpful in answering my questions.

I assume that you'll be wanting to make things easy on yourself by using composite cable. Belden makes some very useful combinations like 2xCat5e+2RG6 all in a single bundle. It's about a half-buck a foot, but worth it if you value your labor. They call it "Home Choice". That way, you can have a single box with coax, phone and data all in one place.

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out http://www.partsexpress.com. The have some wire as well as terminals, hubs, etc., as well as being a great source for other parts.

If you're looking for quality gear at bargain prices try this:
http://www.cablesforless.com/index.asp? ... tegory=238

I've always been happy with my purchases from them.

Chuck(G) wrote:I assume that you'll be wanting to make things easy on yourself by using composite cable.

Yes, this makes it much easier. However, If I were to do my house now, I would use Cat 6 instead of Cat 5.

Mark wrote:Yes, this makes it much easier. However, If I were to do my house now, I would use Cat 6 instead of Cat 5.

True, but it's kind of hard finding Cat6e composite cable at anything resembling affordable prices. However, you can get composite with a couple of strands of fiber+Cat5e+Coax, which ought to handle just about anything you want.

OTOH, shades of "thick" ethernet (remember that?) there's been a concerted push to see how much data can be shoved down a Cat5 UTP line, so I wouldn't write Cat5 off quite yet.

At any rate, this place is full of information about what's currently available:

http://www.broadbandutopia.com