Cable straps from
DeepSurplus plus
Thomas and Betts Releasable Tiescable tracing kit:
B&K Model 262 -- a tone generator terminating in alligator clips and RJ11 plug and a tracer probe, for a little under $70 (including shipping) from
Tequipment.net.
Locking pliers and the
TL252 stripper costs
$10 from DeepSurplus
TIP: Some folks like to use a small-blade screwdriver to do their termination. But I wouldn't recommend taking the risk of widening the terminals and creating an intermittent, or worse, high resistance connection that would be miserable to troubleshoot.
Cable test kit from
Altex Computers and ElectronicsWhile simply crimping RJ45 plugs onto interconnect cables and foregoing patch panels may seem attractive, don't do it. CAT5e interconnect cable doesn't play well with most RJ45 plugs. You'll notice signal loss, intermittent continuity problems, or at worst, dead cable runs. This is especially true of plenum-rated cable, because the jacket material doesn't properly friction-fit with the crimp action of the plug. Among our clients who have existing cable infrastructure, >70% of those without patch panel interconnects experience intermittent connectivity problems. Within two years, the majority of them have opted to retrofit patch panels to remediate the problem. As you can imagine, the costs of doing after-the-fact are substantially higher. Especially if the previous cable installer ignored other EIA/TIA best practices -- missing service loops (1-3 foot of slack at each end) being the most common mistake. Leviton provides a good overview of cabling practices: Wiring Strategies for Voice and Data Systems
http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/learning/documents/strategies.pdf It's well worth a read for anyone pulling their own telcom/datacom wiring.
Old style 66 blocks don't meet fast ethernet specifications for crosstalk, near-end crosstalk (NEXT), and isolation. By using them, you effectively reduce CAT5/CAT5e rated cable to CAT3. Instead, consider using CAT5e/CAT6-rated patch panels. Typically these terminate with higher density 110 blocks.
I second the idea of running a minimum of two cables per run. This never fails to pay off in a year or two when your network devices proliferate. In addition, consider running poly line alongside any pulls. This will facilitate pulling additional cable in the same chase in the future.
You're using RG-6, which is good - alot of people don't know the vast difference the quality of cable you buy makes. Unfortunatly most home users don't have a good signal meter and they think that as long as their picture is clear everything is okay, well that isn't true either - what you can't see is that those poor connections are
butchering your signal.
I recommend Tri-Shield or Quad-Shield RG6 depending on your RF environment, from either Commscope or Times Fiber. (some cable co's will let you buy a reel through them when they order for themselves, some won't)
For connectors, you should be using high-quality ones like these:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=20305&PROD=WMFDIGI-S(crimp tool:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=20305&CAT=&PROD=SLCCT1 )
Once you have the cable stripped, fold back the braid and slide the connector on until the white dialectric material is even with the inner ring of the fitting. You should trim the centerconductor once crimped so that it does not protrude more than 1/8 - 1/4 inches from the end of the connector. There are different connectors for different types of cable also. Alot of people also like using those handy little push-on jumpers you get at wal-mart or sometimes they come with the VCR - pitch them in the trash. They cause more problems than you would care to know. If you must use a pushon, at least make a RG6 jumper with good fittings and then use these type:
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/POF-SW/216/PUSH-ON_F-59_.htmlIf I was your cable tech and came into your house, I would have to pull every fitting and every faceplate in your house and recrimp the connectors after you put screwons on.
Now for your coax patch panel, A metal sheet (which could be grounded - or power bonded, whichever term you preffer) on some standoff brackets would have done the job better. Just line up your holes and drill with a 3/8 bit, then use these:
http://www.arrisistore.com/product.php?pid=209379(don't forget your nuts:
http://www.arrisistore.com/product.php?pid=202336 )
Whats the purpose of this you ask? Well, I've seen a lot - I mean a lot, of bad TV's, VCR's etc, that actually put 110volts back on the *ground* of the coax. This can cause all kinds of problems that I'm not going to go into here.
General rule of thumb: Don't buy coax or equipment from anyplace that has "-mart" in its name. Don't buy gold-plated (worthless junk - yes, lets gold plate the ground instead of the part that actually carries the signal)
Those with cable installations that use splitters will want to use splitters made by Regal:
http://www.arrisistore.com/product.php?pid=209661http://www.arrisistore.com/product.php?pid=209662 (etc...)
The common mistake alot of people make is assuming that they'll get better picture out of the ports of the splitter with the bigger number, where the opposite is actually true, the numbers indicate LOSS of signal in db, and you should generally assume that you get 15db into the house, and subtract from there (ask your tech how many db you are getting to the back of the house - he may give you two figures, split the difference and use that as your start). Depending on the carrier to noise, your picture could become grainy or even hard to see at 0 or -15db (no signal is -30), and you should always have about +10 hitting the back of a BigScreen (they generally require more than the average TV for a good picture).
Okay before I ramble way off-track I wanted to get to the CAT5, and reinforce what was said before about the patch panels and having ends on your runs. Horizontal cable is generally "Solid Conductor" meaning that each wire in the pairs is a single wire. This makes it stiffer, easier to handle and it has better characteristics as far as signal performance. However, the common mistake people make is in fact, connectorizing this cable rather than, when properly utilitized, terminated into a patch panel. The solid conductor is why you can't use it as a patch cable. The more the cable moves, and that wire bends, its just like taking a pop can and wiggling the tab back and forth, eventually it breaks off, then you have your intermittant failure or high-resistance connection or just a complete failure altogether. Now, if you do terminate it into a fitting, it best be a fitting that never moves because it
will fail eventually. This is why you buy the premade jumpers that are made from "Braided Conducter" that are easier to bend and are not so stiff for your shorter, more commonly moved around, plugged and unplugged often connections.
You want to buy them premade because braided cable is a pain to terminate, let me tell you - and patch cables don't cost hundreds of dollars either (unless you are buying a lot of them...)
Other suggestions.....
When you run cable drops during a house build leave plenty of over-run, loop and pin out the way and note not just the number of the cable but where it is! It is very frustrating to come back after the dryliners have been in to find they have burried half your cables. Photos are good to track cables. Odds are the cable ends will get covered in bits of plaster, paint, stood on, pulled (note all the horror stories about damaged cables). Basically no matter how good they are, and I've had some great guys on site, other trades have no idea about network cable (or power cables when it comes to it).
We had no problems using white masking tape with pen numbering to tag the cable, run it round the end of the cable a couple of times and then take a 2 inch bit and double it back on itself.
Only other thing is that Cat5 cable costs basically nothing so just run it eveywhere, you can just hide it behind drywall or blanking plates.
Have a look at our build
http://www.blackie.me.uk/
The FlashPhone F2K will focus on softphone, like Skype, MSN, Google Talk, Xten,SIP Phone etc, All you need is flashphone, Travel and drop in any internet bar, plug and talk, unplug and leave, how far will you go without communication? 
