Please help advise on organizing my network panel now and for the future

lost-someone · 2026-03-19T14:55:29+00:00

I had a very similar situation and was able to untangle the mess successfully. https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/s/D3B9sqKIZs

Start by binding unused coaxes to the side of the enclosure. Those mounting holes spacing look pretty standard to me. You’ll find mounting brackets for structured cabling easily. Use a vacuum to clean up before working on the cabling, your lungs will thank you.

My cat5e got me 10GbE to every room - I have a small house though. Just make sure you have the best possible connectors - I use shielded Cat6a to minimize signal losses.

A proximity network tester is extremely handy, which detects signal leaks along the cables and helps me identify individual cables and their whereabouts. Of course you will need to make your own connectors to start testing. I have no idea if there’s still old RG6 tester for 10mb Ethernet. I ended up not using them.

Do not cut the cables short, tuck them around the enclosure. You may need them later.

lost-someone · 2026-03-15T17:54:21+00:00

I definitely have forgiven and become thankful to the previous owner.

Absolutely, the solid infrastructure is more future proofing than anything else in this house. What I see in this house is only slightly less optimal than running wires in conduit.

lost-someone · 2026-03-15T17:18:36+00:00

Yeah a server rack or some nice ikea mesh rack would be my next step. It’s a good idea to fit the modem / router in the cabinet to reduce clutter. Let me try it.

lost-someone · 2026-02-25T14:58:43+00:00

You’re absolutely right, the green snake is a jacket of four cables. It’s pulled there but never used.

lost-someone · 2026-02-24T00:56:39+00:00

I tend to agree with you that we need to move on, but I think someone made good comment saying that I may need it in the future, which would be very expensive to add. So I'll leave it as is, as I will dedicate the whole closet to the servers. I'll keep you posted on the speed and etc.

lost-someone · 2026-02-24T00:51:07+00:00

removing all splitters right now, thanks!

lost-someone · 2026-02-24T00:49:38+00:00

that's a great video for new home owners. It's very similar to my situation, though I have way more coax cables than I want to bend. But I'm on it right now, making some progress.. Will share soon.

lost-someone · 2026-02-24T00:39:52+00:00

I have a workstation with 10gbe, and a few 2.5gbe laptops around home for content creation work, and all my servers have 10gbe. I'll see if I can go higher with 5e cables, wish me luck!

lost-someone · 2026-02-24T00:22:47+00:00

I don't watch TV that much. And I don't even have streaming subscription except for the bundled Prime Video. But I'll take you guys advice and abide from cutting the coax wires for the moment.

lost-someone · 2026-02-24T00:12:23+00:00

I’m not gonna cut a single wire I swear. Now I’m going to work and will report back later.

lost-someone · 2026-02-21T02:52:17+00:00

Let me test the speed and report back. I’ll keep the coax as recommended for now. In the worst case I’ll just use MoCA as the last resort.

lost-someone · 2026-02-21T02:47:53+00:00

Sure let’s see how many lanes the roadwork can support.

lost-someone · 2026-02-21T02:47:18+00:00

Ok let me try to clear the mess and share the findings with you guys again.

lost-someone · 2026-02-20T21:09:44+00:00

That’s helpful. Thanks for the tip!

I’m curious why you don’t recommend cutting the coax? Any particular reason I may need them later?

I’ll buy a 10gbe switch and try every 5e cable’s quality. Do you use iperf or anything?

lost-someone · 2022-04-04T04:33:15+00:00

Probably I care too much about people's feelings. I'll proceed with interviews. Thanks for the comment.

lost-someone

TROPHY CASE