UTP bus topology ethernet

I am thinking of wiring up my house with ethernet along the baseboards,
like the phones in the house. But UTP ethernet is a star topology and
running 4 cat 5s down a baseboard is nuts, and especially if I dont
know where exactly the computers are going to be.

I am thinking of using mini ethernet hubs
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=A-3097F3 and do some mods
to them to use power-over-ethernet, so they dont have a power cable
following them, but they are 10mbs, not 100mbs, I need the 100mbs speed
(currently I use 14mbs HomePlug (network over power outlets)). Are
there any commercial solutions to my problem, like real surface mount
jacks that have a built in switch? similar to 3com's intellijacks, or
something else? or does anyone have any ideas on how to wire it? I dont
want to use big hubs everywhere.

(E-Mail Removed) <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I am thinking of wiring up my house with ethernet along the baseboards,
> like the phones in the house. But UTP ethernet is a star topology and
> running 4 cat 5s down a baseboard is nuts, and especially if I dont
> know where exactly the computers are going to be.
>
> I am thinking of using mini ethernet hubs
> http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=A-3097F3 and do some mods
> to them to use power-over-ethernet, so they dont have a power cable
> following them, but they are 10mbs, not 100mbs, I need the 100mbs speed
> (currently I use 14mbs HomePlug (network over power outlets)). Are
> there any commercial solutions to my problem, like real surface mount
> jacks that have a built in switch? similar to 3com's intellijacks, or
> something else? or does anyone have any ideas on how to wire it? I dont
> want to use big hubs everywhere.

As someone who's involved in the care and feeding of networks on daily basis,
I'd say it's probably not worth it. On the plus side, you do only end up
having to run one cable. On the downside, you'll get lower reliability,
lower bandwidth, and probably higher cost.

Trust me. Run the extra cables - it's worth it in the long run.

--
Frank Sweetser fs at wpi.edu
WPI Network Engineer
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