Hello all, Right, I need a little advice as to the best way to get my PC which I want wired, connected to my Internet. I've finally got an ISP, plusnet, with their crappest broadband ADSL because nothing Else is available in my area. Pissed off is an understatement. I asked them when I ordered on the phone If they can install in the living room and upstairs study. With router downstairs and still have upstairs connected by wire. Yes, they said. Engineer came checks the line says it's fine and working, I asked him aswell and he said yeah just connect to the line upstairs because it will just be an extension of the downstairs one. These are phone lines. Anyway, now I've been told that I can't do that. If I want anything wired upstairs I need router plugged in up there. But this stops downstairs plug from working at all and I will also have a less stable, slower connection from upstairs. I know there are home plugs but thy cost so much for a good set and I can't afford losing any speed because this Internet is going to be so slow already (about 8Mb or something). I also don't know if the plugs are on the same circuit which I think they have to be? Another thought was is there a way I could get an Ethernet cable put up inside the wall to the upstairs room where the other phone plug is? The room is above the living room. So questions are: how can I find out if two plugs are on same circuit, and would putting Ethernet Cable up in wall, where the phone line plugs are, feasible? And any others that might pop up as you read this? :/ My internet still isn't activated, I have to wait a week apparently.. For them to press a button. So I kind of want to sort something by then. Any help appreciated and thanks in advance
Easiest way: single CAT5e cable running from the downstairs router to a cheap Gigabit switch upstairs, then plug all your upstairs machines into that. Full-speed broadband, wired networking everywhere, minimum expense. It's how my network is wired: the router in the living room serves the games consoles and has an uplink to a switch in the upstairs office, which serves everything else. You can run it through the walls, you can run it along the walls hidden behind adhesive trunking, or you can do what I did and just run it along the skirting boards hidden beneath the carpets. Job dun.
That is actually how I do it. Router in living room then one cable to my PCs upstairs via switch. Problem is, I've always just done as you said, routed the cable under carpet/up wall. I can't do that here as, one, no carpet it is linoleum, two, not allowed to run it up/across walls in trunking because it looks a mess (OH orders PITA!). I need to work out a way to get the Ethernet in the wall without destroying the wall. Haha. Think I need to find me a professional carpenter?electrician?handyman? Who knows. Lol
What about going upstairs via the outside wall? You can get external rated CAT5e. Either that or wait till your broadband is activated and try the router in the upstairs socket. When I was on 8MB ADSL I had a similar setup to this and didn't have any speed losses compared to when it was in the master socket.
This is a definite option, and may be easier than running it internally - but I'd recommend surge protectors at either end. Lightning hitting the external wiring is unlikely, but I'm a cautious type. A better option for external wiring is fibre-optic, but that can get expensive fast.
I don't know enough about what kind of walls they are to say really.. But.. It is an internal wall (joining on to next door) of a new build house. Hit it, and it sounds hollow and very thin. With extremely thin coating of white paint. It feels as though if I fell into it I would a rather larger living room.. Hence wondering if it would actually not be as hard just doing it through the wall. I know some houses have solid thick walls. I will try the router upstairs, but I just like this little bit of flexibility. Going outside would probably be harder to get out and back in than through inside wall. I'd have to get someone to do it anyway, it's a matter of cost really. And just having it done easily.
Some cat5e (two runs, probably), and a wire rod poking set (I forget the real name) should do you right, if you make a couple of holes in the walls (are they one above another?) Be prepared for a bit of swearing though. I'll try and find the guide I used later!
If this is soley to get the net signal upstairs to another switch then even a fairly shoddy connection on a homeplug should not impact a 8mb connection?
Where abouts in the UK are you? If t'up north I will give you a hand fella no charge (I do this kinda stuff in my business).
I'm in Salford, modd1. I have absolutely zero skills in this kinda thing haha, so only guessing as to what could possibly be done. It is a rented property, So I cant bugger it up or have it looking bad. But do have permission.
My thinking also, unless you need to transfer large files between computers internally homeplugs will be fine for just using the internet. It'd be different if you had a superfast 150Mb broadband, but with just 8Mb the internet is going to the slowest part of the connection, not the homeplugs. Something like this will work fine: http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-PA2030KIT-200Mbps-Powerline-Adapter/dp/B00FEDTWJI/ I can stream full 1080p HD Video with 5.1 sound over a set of 85Mbps homeplugs, so the 200Mbps version will be more than capable with just internet traffic.
The disappointing thing about that style of plug is that if the socket is low down on the wall, there often isn't room to plug in normal ethernet cables, and how many people keep right angle cables handy?. Personally I used a mains network device that was integrated into an expansion socket.
My plug sockets are almost half way up the wall, so plenty of space to plug ethernet in, luckily. Im waiting for broadband to be enabled then I'm going to try router upstairs. Going to put the cable in the wall just because it's a useful thing to have anyway. Just need to get it sorted once I've got broadband XD Thanks for all the suggestions people, mucho useful! I may well take you up on that offer, modd1 if you're close enough and still willing to lend a hand, will probably be in touch if I decide to go that route.
