Thanks guys! Lots of good tips here. I've looked at some crimping videos so I think I've got the general gist of that, no different to crimping phone line jacks, and its no hassle for me to run cabling in the walls since I've already run TV aerial through the same walls.
Just to get my terminology right: what is the difference between a router and switch?
I've also seen the term "modem/router" used. Do they make modem/router/switch? Do I need a modem/router/switch or is a modem/switch all I'm looking for?
In relation to interference with power cables, is there a minimum distance that the network cables need to be away?
I actually considered the network over power lines but they cost a fortune here: thanks for the link.
A router routes traffic between two different networks.
A hub repeats everything to every other node on the network..
A switch is a smart hub that only routes traffic to the appropriate node on the same network.
