atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Need professional advice fast

igadget: Collision domains aren't an issue in a switched environment. Each connection between switch port and NIC, or switch port to switch port, is a collision domain. Collisions are only an issue now if someone throws and old hub in the mix somewhere.

As far as latency is concerned though, that's very true. For a business, this could be a serious bottleneck if the switches are low-end. For most home networks, you could do a lot worse and it would never be an issue.

Getting back on topic, I would agree with all comments about finding a new installer. The installer should be able to explain to the client how they are doing the job, and why that's right for this situation. It should never be left up to the client to guess what they need. This sounds too much like an electrician looking for the old "The specs should have said what type of cable to use and how to terminate it" excuse when things don't work properly in the end.

Heck
You guys are making an issue out of this.
In south Africa we want it to work first time,with as little hassles as possible and as cheaply as possible.
Stop confusing customers with technical talk and just do it.

As an aside:

There are devices that allow data to be transmitted over existing RJ-59 and RJ-6 in houses that are only wired for coax and a few cat-nuthin's.

I have used them successfully.

Google "ethernet over coax" .

I use Coaxsys products.

For that matter, there are products that allow you to send network signals over the power outlets in your house (haven't tried them myself though, so don't ask me how well they work...)

Almost any house in my area is loop-de-loop...thank the sparkies for that.

As for your original question...fire those schmucks and get a contractor who won't confuse you.

Arthur, don't you mean RG59 and RG6?

Clinton, thanks for the correction, I was still thinking hubs...dont ask me why.

I've not installed any either, but they put a signal on the 60hz carrier of the existing line and pull it off, through induction. They get about 2mb/s best case. there is also a way of running voice via that method. I'd do the voice line before the data that is for sure. Ive never heard of anyone trying them in an environment with either more than 2 connections(one at each end), or on one with something like X10 running in the house. I suspect they would have the same issue as X10 which needs a set of transformers in the breaker box to propagate the signal across both sides of the service.