Building a new house - what are the tech must haves?

There are a couple of threads on this. Do a search. I think they are a couple of weeks old

Good luck!

The most fundamental thing to do is to set aside a space for a tech closet. It should be centrally located, have its own A/C vent, and a generous number of electric outlets. Plan on housing your alarm system, VoIP phone system, and ethernet distribution system there, as well as any other audio or video devices. Plan on a UPS for critical apps.

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Just curious....why do y’all want multicolored lights in your house?

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House. Disco. Rave space. Bathroom. Whatever you want to call it, it’s all the same

Definitely want network cable(s) run through out and drops in each bedroom and with your entertainment system location.

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The most fundamental thing to do is to set aside a space for a tech closet.

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This. And run Cat6 to every room in the house, even ones you can't think of a reason to have a Cat6 drop.

Is the cat6 to every room essential if you have google WiFi?

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And run Cat6 to every room in the house, even ones you can't think of a reason to have a Cat6 drop

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I'm currently running aftermarket Ethernet through a house that's about 20 years old. Install cost of Cat6A vs Cat6:

Keystone-accepting patch panel is universal and cheap.
Cat6 keystone jacks are just over $1/each ($28/25 or $53/50 on Amazon based on first results). Cat6a keystone's are currently going for $40/25.


For 1000ft
Cat6 riser: $110-130 for UTP
Cat6a riser: you can actually nab shielded in purple for $169 right now. This has been coming on/off Amazon. I missed it but picked up UTP in blue for $144. The typical, always available UTP 6a price from monoprice seems to be $179 (prime shipping!)

Now, you can go looking at all sorts of other brands, I just know this is readily available and reliable. But if you're looking for 1000ft of UTP cable and keystone terminals, the cost to terminate 12 drops differs by $12/25 jacks + $30-70 for the bulk cable.

You can very easily make the argument that Cat6 or even cat5e is all just as good in terms of non-benchmark real world use unless you're making long, long runs. You're probably right. But if you're building a house, less than $100 to upgrade is probably a safe and nonwasted one, in particular if you're interested in video distribution from a central media closet.

I’m interested in this thread as well because we’re in the planning stages. My question is what can be done to future proof? 20 years ago, why run cat cable. 20 years from now, will cat 6 cables be 1998’s phone cable?

So in general, would it be smart to run your cat6 through conduit (at least to where you can snake 2038’s cable through)?

Echoing this run CAT6 and have a tech utility closet. Depending on where you live make sure the builders also run conduit to the home. Most companies want a 2". I'd say you run one 2" and another 1-1.5" just in case. That way you are future proofing your home for a possible fiber optic line to be run to your home. It cuts down on the install time as the conduit will be in place and the utility company won't have to submit permits or trench on your property

Run cat6 everywhere.

Even though there may be newer technology down the road, that is not today.

Also, I just built a theater onto the house. Even though wireless is available on just about everything, I hard wired all gear. I have my pre-pro, projector, computer, AppleTV, Sonos, and all peripherals hard wired to an Araknis 36 port PoE switch, and modem and router....it may seem unnecessary—-until you stream true 4K and 7 channels of 24/96 audio—then you will be glad you ran hard wires.

I ran 4” conduits down all 4 walls in the room, so I can easily change out any cable down the road if needed.