Moving into a new extension

thehorselady

I live in a 60’s detached house and I’ll be moving my main living quarters shortly into a new extension.

The extension will be some distance from where my router is at present and I’m wondering what my options are.

Like a lot of 60 houses the master socket is in the front hall but there is no power point beside it. The router is in an upstairs bedroom, where I have my desktop and wireless printer. attached to the master socket by an extension cable. The router is quite a few years old

The most obvious solution would be to have BT install a new master socket but that’s about £140. Not very moneysaving

My current thinking would be to run a cat 5 cable from my current router (upstairs bedroom) to the new extension. That would entail taking the cable up from the desk where the router sits, into the loft, across the floor of the loft and down into the new extension. While the work is not yet complete I checked with my laptop and tablet and I can get a signal but it is way down at one bar, two at the most. How far will a cat5 cable carry a signal? At the same time that solution will not affect my desktop and Wi-Fi printer.

Would powerline plugs do the job?

I’ve heard about signal boosters but know nothing about them.

When the work is complete I want to be able to use my laptop and tablet as I do now via a wireless connection and also connect a new smart TV which I hope to buy shortly to my internet connection.

What would members suggestions be.

thehorselady

grumpycrab

Try a powerline kit - uses the house electric as a cat5 cable.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DHB2T44
This gives you a wifi connection and 2 cat5 ports at the remote end.
If it doesn't work (it should do) send it back.

LindaMary

Stay away from power line adapters if you can and look at a hard wired solution...Ofcom may stop the use of theses devices
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/01/ofcom-propose-prosecute-owners-bad-powerline-network-adapters.html

Strider590

Cat 5 it, you'd be mad not to.

If it can reach the length of a large factory building, i'm damn sure it'll reach across your house.

And if afterwards you need WiFi for say a mobile device, then you can just buy a cheap repeater/AP? (probably £10-£20), which will plug into the cat 5 and give you WiFi in that area (very useful in Hotel rooms too ).

onomatopoeia99

thehorselady wrote: »

How far will a cat5 cable carry a signal?

One hundred metres, according to the specification. It is the best solution.

thehorselady

Strider590 wrote: »

Cat 5 it, you'd be mad not to.

If it can reach the length of a large factory building, i'm damn sure it'll reach across your house.

And if afterwards you need WiFi for say a mobile device, then you can just buy a cheap repeater/AP? (probably £10-£20), which will plug into the cat 5 and give you WiFi in that area (very useful in Hotel rooms too ).

lets say I opt for Cat5. My setup is
Router in bedroom. The cable will have to travel up into the loft along it and down into the new room.

I want the connection for a smart TV, a tablet and a laptop the last two of course I'd want to be wireless. So what additional equipement will I need? Will I need an additional router, will I have to replace the one I have in the bedroom, it must be at least eight years old!

Any suggestions as to where to buy the cable?

Might as well do the job properly now I have the opportunity so would appreciate a 'you need this' list.

Cara

Owain_Moneysaver

Best option is to have the modem/router as close to the master socket as possible, and have the master socket fitted with a faceplate filter so all the phone extension wiring is filtered.

If you must run an ADSL extension, use proper twisted-pair cable eg
https://www.claritybroadband.co.uk/clxcart/ADSL-VDSL-Infinity-Extensions/

An option not often mentioned is to cut and extend the router's power cord between the router and the wall-wart power adapter, if you don't have a handy mains socket.

From the modem/router to the extension run Cat5e data cable carrying Ethernet.

In the extension you need a switch (to provide multiple ethernet sockets from one 'incoming' ethernet feed) and a wireless access point. Some DSL routers can be configured to act in this mode, i.e. you turn the router and DSL functions off and just use the ethernet and wifi bits. Or you can buy a wifi access point and switch combo eg

http://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-el-esr-1221n.html

would probably be suitable.

which has 4 'downstream' ethernet sockets and wifi.

RumRat

LindaMary wrote: »

Stay away from power line adapters if you can and look at a hard wired solution...Ofcom may stop the use of theses devices
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/01/ofcom-propose-prosecute-owners-bad-powerline-network-adapters.html

Perhaps you should actually read the article before you post they are not going to stop PLA use.
OP - Get a powerline adapter from a reliable manufacturer and source and you will be fine, if you wish to try that solution.
It's a shame you didn't think of the wiring when you had the extension built.

System

Hi

If you can gauge the distance needed then perhaps a 30metre Cat5e cable may suffice (as both ends are already prepared).

http://www.comms-express.com/categories/cat5e-rj45-patch-leads-cables/

Length:
50 m


Colour:
Grey

Part No:PALFB50GY
£17.72 £21.26 Inc Vat plus postage.

then add a router or switch or laptop or whatever.

LindaMary

RumRat wrote: »

Perhaps you should actually read the article before you post they are not going to stop PLA use.
OP - Get a powerline adapter from a reliable manufacturer and source and you will be fine, if you wish to try that solution.
It's a shame you didn't think of the wiring when you had the extension built.

Perhaps they are not going to stop the sale of them but these devices can radiate for up to 400m in any direction. Putting a signal into an unbalanced antenna, which your home wiring is, is effectively radiating crap in all directions.. We actually had Ofcom here on 3 separate occasions to sort our neighbours PLA devices out and the engineers admitted they were horrified by these devices. The system next door is now hard wired and much more efficient for them

Paully232000

Strider590 wrote: »

Cat 5 it, you'd be mad not to.

If it can reach the length of a large factory building, i'm damn sure it'll reach across your house.

And if afterwards you need WiFi for say a mobile device, then you can just buy a cheap repeater/AP? (probably £10-£20), which will plug into the cat 5 and give you WiFi in that area (very useful in Hotel rooms too ).

So, if i bought one of these I could plug it into the hotel room internet cable and get wifi rather than the £20/day or so charge for internet in the room?