Stan Reeves <sjreeves@eng.auburn.edu> (06/27/91)
My wife and I are planning to build a house beginning in a few weeks. I've been trying to think ahead and figure out if there's any extra wiring we might like to put in the house before the sheetrock is put up. Simple ideas include wiring every room with speaker jacks that run to a central location to be driven by a stereo. There's also the possibility of an intercom system or something like that. Taking a longer view, though, I'm wondering what else might be included in the house. For example, it occurred to me to wire the house for a PC-LAN. I doubt I'll do that, but it's an idea. I've also been thinking about ISDN. Unfortunately, I don't know how such a thing would be wired (what kind of wire, interfaces, etc.). Right now, this is about all I know (or think I know) about ISDN: * Some aspects of ISDN are still evolving. * Some types of ISDN service are already being offered in some areas (but not here). My questions: 1) Would ISDN require special wiring in the home, or would it use existing phone lines? 2) If it requires special wiring, does it have to be a particular type? What type would be best? 3) Would you recommend trying to wire the house in anticipation of ISDN service becoming widespread and being offered in my area? 4) Do you have any advice that I should consider for wiring the house to make it easy to add other communications devices as desired (smart house wiring)? 5) Are there other newsgroups that might be more appropriate for some of these questions? Thanks for your help. Stan Reeves Auburn University, Department of Electrical Engineering, Auburn, AL 36849 INTERNET: sjreeves@eng.auburn.edu