Basically, I’m building a home and getting it wired with Ethernet cabling. I didn’t want to get too much into the technical details, so I just provided the builders with locations where I want RJ45 ports, along with one spot where I just said “24-port patch panel” (the number of ports located elsewhere being 22.
I did some Googling and figured the patch panel should cost at most $150 in hardware costs (I found plenty of sub-$100 options, but a couple of more expensive ones and would not have been . I didn’t mention anything about needing a rack because I thought it would be something that could just go directly in the wall. (And then I could buy a switch and use it to connect pretty much all the ports from the patch panel to the router.)
The builder came back to me with an estimated cost of:
- $465 for a server cabinet: SEVCBN -6RU – 66WM
- $567 for a patch panel: NCO760242563
- $148 install charge
They gave me specific model numbers for the patch panel and server cabinet, but I can’t find information about whether that’s the actual cost of them, because the costs are locked behind having an account with the B2B retailers.
Does their proposed patch panel costing about 4x what I was expecting actually seem likely to give any value? Is there are explanation for that cost?
Secondary question: is having a wall-mounted cabinet worthwhile? How will it work in terms of installing a switch and connecting from the patch panel to the switch?
Thanks!
I second this sentiment.
It gives better flexibility going forward and you save that money for now. When ready, you can decide wall mount or free standing rack, patch panel or none or anything you wish to change once you’ve had time to consider the issue more thoroughly.
I never installed any additional patch panels. Instead I just put the RJ-45 end on and plug straight into the switch. Easier and I never have any problems doing so.
Interesting. So you’d suggest just getting the conduit put in? How hard and/or expensive/cheap would it be it run 4 or 8 cables through that conduit later on, compared to (a reasonable charge for) getting it done while the rest of the wiring is being done?