The Advantages of Structured Wiring

Here is a small list of some of the main advantages to concider when choosing to implement a Structured Wiring system.

• Configurability
  With all of the cables running back to the Central Wiring Panel you can easily change how and what these individual cables are connected to and what they are used for.
• Troubleshooting
  Each of the cables can be individually isolated from the rest of them and tested for shorts and opens if need be.
• No splicing
  Splices are taboo here because they are prone to failure and can pickup noise and interference and, quite simply, aren't needed here.
• More consistent signal quality - with all cables running back to the Central Wiring Panel they can all be connecter to the same source and get the same signal level. You can easily avoid having some outlet passing through more splices or splitters than others.

Another feature key to structured wiring is the choice of wiring types. The use of high quality cabling is stressed here.

For video this means a high quality RG6/U Quad Shielded cable is typically used instead of the older RG59. The RG6 Quad Shield has less signal loss especially at the higher frequencies used for DSS (satellite) and is less susceptible to interference.

For the data network this means a high quality CAT5, CAT5e, CAT6, or even fiber optics.

For the phone this means the same CAT cable used for data instead of the older 4 conductor phone cable resulting in less noise and interference pickup and the capacity for 4 phone lines instead of 2.

The idea is, use the most advanced cabling you can afford. You may not need all the capabilities these advanced cables provide today but with home networking and entertainment evolving so quickly you may find them quite useful sooner than you think.