Home networking wiring

We just move to our new house some weeks ago and now I am deciding how to setup our home network. I have multiple systems (Linux Web Server, NAS, HTPC, AppleTV and 5 notebooks) and we will be using Internet over cable (Kabel Deutschland). My idea is to put multiple systems in the cellar (Web Server, NAS and HTPC), a wireless router somewhere in the ground floor and the rest of the systems will access the wireless net from the ground and upper level of the house.

I need the network to be as fast as possible because we have heavy load (mainly with videos, movies, tv series, etc) therefore I plan to have gigabit for everything wired and wireless-n for the rest.

Now my main problem. I need to connect somehow the systems in the cellar. Ethernet over power is not an option because it sucks. Wireless would not be the best approach because I need good performance, mainly from the NAS.

I need to wire the thing, if it is possible. I've checked the telephone sockets and they are wired with 6 core cable, I am not sure if I could use the same wiring for the LAN as well or if I need to put new cables. At the moment I still do not have the Internet service installed so I do not know yet how the telephone service from Kabel Deutschland works or if I need the wiring for the telephone at all (I think KD provides voip phone service).

Any ideas will be appreciated. I have a technical background so I expect to understand things easily even if I do not have experience in this area.

Several years ago we wired our 25yr-old house with CAT 5 Ethernet cable.

The DSL/telephone appears in our living room. Luckily there was a conduit up to bedroom above (originally for second telephone). Since we use DECT telephone as mobile device we reused that conduit to run Ethernet up to the loft (DSL Ethernet router & base phone are in lounge). There we have an 8-port switch and cascade Ethernet cables down to the various rooms/bedrooms. We were able to run the cables behind the wall in one case (had to make a hole in plasterboard but we were renovating that room anyway. In 3 other rooms we drilled a hole through the corner of roof&wall. In one case the Cat 5 cable runs down the corner of wall/sloping roof & that is papered over

Since CAT5 cable has 8 wires (4 twisted pairs) we were able to run two computers from each cable.

Thus in my Arbeitszimmer I have both a WIN-PC & a Sun workstation attached; my son has his PC & if a friend visits they can also connect in. Our main bedroom also has two connections (currently not used). May daughter just has one PC attached.

Meanwhile down in the lounge a laptop can just be plugged into a spare port on the router. We dont use wireless LAN. We don't have such high data rate requirements as you do.

System has worked well for a number of years.

If you've got 6-core cable for phones then the cabling is pretty new, and so I presume is the house (less than 20 years) and the cables probably run in tubes. Can't you simply replace the cable with others of your choice? Even fibre... Use the old cable as a pull-string for the new cable..

I was thinking about this but I was scared to screw things. I know this is a dumb question, but anyway ... Do normally the pipes (where the cable is) go vertical? I mean, does the cable need to do angles? It the thing is straight I assume it would be easy to replace the cables.

Can I use the cables I already have? (2 wires for telephone and 4 for LAN).

Most cable tubes wind all over the place. Try tugging on the existing cable to see how loose it is and determine how easy it will slide out (and a new one slide in). 6-core phone cable is really not shielded enough for LAN. Electrically it will work and might be no problem if it's a short run, but any nearby cables or even the phone line will interfere with the network traffic, possibly so far as to kill it.