Structured Wiring
The wiring required and used in homes has changed greatly over the last few years. It’s not that uncommon for a home built just a few years ago to lack the necessary cabling required for modern devices. Technology has changed drastically over the last few years. Cable, phones, and networks must be wired with proper cable and connections to work optimally.
Less desirable home wiring includes loops and splitters. Looping a wire is common with phone lines. This is when a phone is looped off another phone wire. Such as when a phone wire runs from a kitchen jack to a jack in the master bedroom then off to a jack in the den. If that loop ever goes bad, depending on the bad part of the loop and make other phone jacks not work. Using splitters is common for cable wiring. This is when a cable wire is split from TV to TV. Depending on how many splits a cable has can directly effect the picture quality of a TV.
Todays home should be wired in what is referred to as “homeruns”. This wiring method runs one wire to a location with no breaks or splits along the way. These wires should be terminated at a “smart panel” or a room that can accommodate a central location for all wires. This method of wiring helps to maintain proper signal and offer a more flexible use of wiring.
Using the proper type of wire in a home is vital. Cable or satellite TV requires a particular size cable to handle the bandwidth of channel programming. As the use and demand for high definition increases, the amount of data a cable can carry become more important. When cabling is homerun, that wire has a optimal condition to have the strongest signal or best picture quality possible. Another benefit is a more flexible use of the cabling. Single rooms can be disconnected without effecting the rest ot that cable wire can be used for a different video source.
Phone wire can benefit greatly from homeruns. Typically phone wire can handle multiple phone numbers. Then the wires are home run different numbers can be sent to phone jacks in the house. This can be great for a fax line or an elderly parent who would like there own phone number. If the right gauge and wiring method has been done, it is possible for a phone wire to be used as an ethernet wire. Ethernet jacks can be used to directly connect computers, blu-ray players, TV’s, and other networkable devices. It can also be used to add wireless access points for expanding the range and strength of a wireless network.
Whether your home is under construction or already built, Atlantic Protective Services can install the proper wiring for your home.