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3Com's 10/100 Switching... Wallplate
An anonymous reader wrote in to say "Tom's hardware has an exclusive review of the new 3Com Network Jack. This is a 4-port 10/100 switch that fits in a standard-sized wallplate." Alright, thats a good idea (he says while accidentally kicking the switch hidden under his desk). Having run more then my share of ethernet drops in the past, I gotta say I dig this idea.
the above is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the little voices in my head
Haivng a technically minded guy around is great..:) :)
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The wall-ports at my work each have 6 ethernet connections, one BNC, and two telephone jacks.
6 you may ask? Well, since ethernet only uses four of the eight wires in the cat5 cable, so you can send two connections down one cable (and out one wall jack), although you need a splitter cable (easy to make) if you want to get the second connection out of it of course
Then, all the ports are wired up via the walls to a central switchboard where you can use short pieces of cable to connect the network any way you like. It's brilliant
...anyone else notice how bad their switches suck? We've run into problems where even cards manufactured by 3com will not work with their 10/100 switches. I wouldn't trust something like this in my data center or in my bedroom walls...
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
A whole wall panel for so little. What I would like is a glorified patch cable, with two bisexual ends. Find a socket that seems to have some working equipment connected to it, disconnect, plug your cable in, and reconnect what ever it was. Plug the other end in your laptop, and also there is a free end for the next guy and his laptop. Enough "intelligence" to handle 10/100Mbit conversions in all four directions, so it makes what ever old/new equipmen fit what ever old/new network, and to adapt to the needs of straight/crossed cabling if both ends turn out to be hubs or PCs. Preferably no power needed, eating a few electrons from the signal wires, or at least a built-in battery for the next zillion years... Price wouldn't matter, as long as most everyone could afford one... Is this really too much to ask?
In Murphy We Turst
what would realy be usful is a switch this size with a built in DSL or Cable modem. then just hook up the coax to the module behind the wall and plug in your computers. another good idea would be to add a behind the wall twisted pait connection either modular or hardwire it your self so you can run network cables with out a huge mess and no uglyness......ofcource that would probably not fit into a wall socket now would it?
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
One item that I did not see addressed is whether or not it passes on the 802.3af Power Over Ethernet to the devices attached to the switch. Some of my customers use IP Phones, and this would be extra-sweet for them (the company won't authorize purchase of 802.3af power sources for the phones, but they might use these jacks when they move their offices...).
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I dislike the idea of replacing or supplimenting workgroup switches with these wall plate things. Does this switch support 802.1Q or 802.1D and things of that nature? Can software upgrades be preformed on these things? Is the thing manageable at all? If not, port-based VLANs are out the window. Switching off a port for security reasons is also out the window. Basic administrative tasks could be greatly inhibited or prohibited if this device has little managment capabilities or none at all. I see people jumping at this idea and embracing it as the next great thing. They did this to 802.11B too. These are also the type of people think wireless is a replace for a wired connection. It is not a replacement for a wired connection. It's convienent for laptops, kioks, printers in odd places, dynamically changing rooms like temporary cubical farms, and PDA access. It can not replace a wired connection for a desktop. So many basic network administrative tasks are inhibited by wireless connections. Most people don't realize it because the extent of their networking ability is buying a 4 port hub and plugging in purchased cables. Perhaps they know how use a crimper and can pull a little wire between rooms. They still don't do the network tasks that a network admin like myself have to do. They just see it as a easier way to connect things together. bad bad bad
Often times, AFTER all the wire is pulled, our clients will decide that they actually want 4 ports out of a wall plate instead of 2, AND they DON'T want a local Hub/Switch that takes up room. This would be a quick, neat and tidy solution for just those situations - IF it works well, we'll probably sell about 1 a month.
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J.J.
IANS (I Am Not Sure) but aren't electrical wires behind the wall somewhat fire resistant? This is to stop them becoming conduits for fire to other floors (imagine a plastic-coated wire that caught on fire. It would quickly burn up the inside of the wall to the next floor. Not so good.)
So, are there fire resistant network cables? Are they available for the home user? Do these wall plate packages warn about this and to not just run standard across-the-floor cable?
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