Structured Wiring in the Project House
There are over 10 miles of high-performance television, telephone and computer
cable running throughout our Project House, and it’s all being pulled together to
create an integrated telecommunications system using a technology known as
"structured wiring".
Structured wiring is a wiring concept that anticipates the electronic needs of
every room in the house, now and into the future. A "structured" wiring system can
be thought of as the electronic foundation for the house. This foundation will
support the telephone, fax, modem, cable TV, satellite TV, cable modem or
high-speed Internet with ISDN or DSL and an internal computer network.
This "future-proof" wiring technique should be considered by everyone building
a home today—and not just larger custom homes, like the Project House. According to
the research firm Parks Associates, 48% of all new homes will be pre-wired with
structured wiring by 2004.
A structured wiring system works using “home runs” that go to each outlet in
the house from a central hub, where all outside services such as cable TV,
telephone, DSS Satellite, Internet, etc. enter the house—sort of like a
"breaker box" for the flow of digital information throughout the house.
Standard Wiring Can Fall Short of Today's Needs
Most homes being built today use telecommunications wiring that is designed
only to meet standards set in the 1950’s--wiring that can fall far short of the
electronic needs of the modern household.
Typical four-strand telephone wiring was designed for voice only, at a time
when second lines were a luxury. Since the beginning of the telephone age,
telephone outlets have been installed in a "daisy-chain" fashion, using low-grade
wire—which means that a problem in a single outlet corrupts the signal in every
phone outlet.
With the "home run" structure and using high-performance Category 5
telecommunications cable for voice and data, and RG6 Quad Shield coaxial video
cable for television, this house will be able to handle and provide crystal clear,
high-speed digital signals distributed to any room in the house from the central
hub.
Given the sophistication of the average American family when it comes to their
telecommunications needs, it’s surprising how many builders don’t offer a
structured wiring package—even as an upgrade option in a new home. If you’re
thinking of building a new home, and you want a home that can handle the
high-bandwidth needs of future telecommunications, be sure to ask your builder
about installing a structured wiring package.
Contact Information:
OnQ Technologies (for Structured Wiring)
1-800-321-2343 extension 2399
Genesis Cable (for High-Performance Cable)
1-800-222-0060 |
