Do It Yourself

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In-house fiber network (beehaw.org)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Not sure if I should post this here or over in Technology, but here goes.

So I need to run two Gigabit (or better) network cables from the main switch in the garage into another room.

The problem is that that room is a shelter (small bunker), which according to Swiss regulations means no holes in the walls, and the 'door' is an airtight 35cm thick slab of reinforced concrete and steel. So the only way into that room is a small conduit for electricity. There's no way two Cat7 cables fit into that conduit, and power and data cables are not allowed to share the same space anyway. That means the only viable option is fiber - and, considering the conduit's dimensions, only fiber without a connector will go through.

There are copper/POF adapters readily available (such as this one), and they would probably do the job. However, POF is effectively limited to ~1Gbit half-duplex. If I go through all the trouble of installing fiber, I don't want it to be inferior to the existing Cat7 copper cabling. If there's a multimode solution that doesn't require me to buy two four-figure Cisco switches and five-figure tools, I'd much prefer that. Has anyone here heard of such a thing?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I don't necessarily have a solution, but it might be useful to know why you need such a big connection to the room, if you're willing to share. Might lead to some different solutions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Hmm, Lemmy or Jerboa appears to have eaten my lengthy reply, so here we go again:

My aim is to have my router/firewall, mail server and VM host in the shelter, as it's the most protected room in the house. That means I need at least two lines - one from the modem to the router/firewall, and one connecting everything to the internal LAN.

The internet connection is rated 400Mbit synchronous with the option of upgrading to up to 25Gbit, though at present I can't imagine us ever needing that much and it's probably more of a marketing gimmick anyway, so that line isn't as critical, throughput-wise.

The rest of the house is currently a copper Gigabit affair, though the cabling is Cat7 and capable of more, so I wouldn't want the fiber to be the bottleneck when we upgrade to 10Gbit a few years down the road. Hence multimode looks like a good idea. The question is whether (and how) there's a way to cut, install and connect it myself. POF would be easier but comes with a number of question marks concerning 10GbE.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

With fiber, you just want to buy pre-terminated patch cables, it's not really possible to terminate them yourself.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This might be a stupid suggestion, but Wifi 7 is to arrive on this Dec. It's going to allow tens of Gbit/sec. Depending on your conditions, you might just buy a Wifi router.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Wi-Fi 7 looks promising, but I doubt I'll get two independent reliable Gigabit+ connections through 35cm of reinforced concrete.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think OPs issue is a combination of available space and regulations. Little space + no copper data connections next to power cables leave little choice but fibre.

I‘m kind of in the same boat, as I would like to connect the garage and an annex building. However, the garage needs power to, prepared for EV - so, large power cable as well. Same for the annex one, in which I just want to have bandwidth available :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Little space + no copper data connections next to power cables leave little choice but fibre.

That's the thing. If I add anything else the house won't pass the periodic electrical inspections.

For an EV we're probably talking 11 or 22kW, so a rather thick cable. But you're probably going to have it installed by a certified electrician anyway, or can you do that yourself in Germany?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

You can pull the wiring yourself, but an electrician needs to do the connections and insulation tests :)