Now with the new Network Storage device I purchased, I want a fast way of accessing my pictures and videos. Our typical wireless networks run at 54 Mbps, which is sluggish when it comes to browsing network data. There are times when I would wait my life away for that RAW picture to load, and it certainly can be frustrating.
Enter the gigabit network. The gigabet ethernet runs at 1000 Mbps, which is faster than the computer itself, but the only way I can connect the computers together is to run a forest of ethernet wires around the house, reminiscent of the college days when wireless was not pervasive and hubs were everwhere.
But then a light bulb turned on. I recall that my phone wiring was done using CAT5 cables, so why not rewire it for ethernet? With the cordless and cell phones, who needs phone jacks all over the house anyway? So I ran to the nearest Lowe’s and bought some modular jacks, in case I want to change the ports in the future. I unscrewed all the phone jacks and realized that there’s only a single CAT5 cable that runs throughout the house, which means I cannot have a central switch and there will need to be a switch for every room that needs gigabit access. For now, I just have one other room I need connection for, so I’m fine for now. After mapping out where the cable went, I began replacing the wall plates…
So now most of my plates are this simple, just a plain ol’ Ethernet jack for the gigabit network. The only caveat is that the house is wired with CAT5, but to access gigabit speeds, I need CAT 5e or CAT6 cables. Fortunately, they’re more specs than anything else, so at short distances, I can still access just about as fast as the computers can go. Now I can connect our laptops via gigabit ethernet when accessing the Network Access Storage device, and transfer at as fast as the hard drives/computers would go without running a ethernet cable along the hallways!