Hello Everyone!
Working on rebuilding the network in a small business (You may remember my question from a week or so ago) and I have a few new questions.
In the process of ordering a new server, a NAS server, and a few other goodies, but I am trying to determine which wiring method will give me the best bang for my buck. My initial plan was to put switches in the rooms where there are several machines. The business is currently expanding, and it is currently unknown just how far it is going to expand. To me, switches seem like the best option, since I can run a cable from the workstations to the switch as more workstations are added, as opposed to running another cable all the way back to the server room.
I was advised by a friend of a friend (who does a lot of telecom work) that switches would lower the speed of the network, and that my best bet would be to run a Cat6 cable for each individual workstation. He also said to avoid bulk cable at all costs and use premade cables, but that seems like it would be prohibitively expensive on my current budget.
What are your thoughts on this? Would using switches (I am talking about gigabit switches, not 10/100) really create a lot of slowdown in the network? Are there any other suggestions ya'll might have as far as an inexpensive, but effective way to rework the cabling? (It needs to be done. There are cables randomly cut off at walls, cables dangling down from the ceiling, dead cables all over the place, etc)
Thanks again for all the help and support! Still learning my way around all this. xD