Posted 09/27/2007 at 05:06:54pm

I've done my share of crawling through the attic as another poster said...here in SW Florida, it hits over 130 degrees as sweat was dripping onto my eyes stinging them. Just be prepared for this before taking on the project and take everything you need WITH YOU during the crawl. Nothing sucks more than having to crawl all the way back just to get cable ties or a tack hammer. Despite the physical pains and heat exhaustion, I put in redundant runs to each room trying to future-proof this install. I can do POE or separate LANs within the same room or even port aggregation as some aftermarket router firmware provides for combining ports 3 and 4 for example. In the end, I created an ad-hoc wiring closet in the garage with easy access to the routers, cable modem and amplifier. Hey! There's an idea for an article: KickAss User wiring closets! Forget case mods, this might be a new trend. Think UV and LED lights,lava lamps, fancy cooling and plexiglass doors to show all the blinking router and switch lights! Okay, I digress. Nevertheless when it was all over, it was worth it. Superfast gigbit switching, no deadspots, no worry about Draft N specs to be ratified for the next decade and no channel hopping every time a neighbor (you know the ones: SSID is Linksys and password is admin) sets up a new router. Wireless has its place...travelling and coffeehouse hotspots; maybe the occassional jaunt to the patio but there is no substitute for cable.