Adding a phone socket

Dhrucku

I just recently got Broadband in my new house and want to run a connection to it (wired) upstairs into the box room/study.

Is it reasonable to get a phone socket installed upstairs, if so what's the price for a regular sparky to install?

Is there any other way of doing it? The nature of the house will mean it the wires will have to pass over the entrance of the house and go upstairs into the bedroom at the top of the landing.

It just seems cleaner to get a new phone socket installed...

Owain_Moneysaver

do you want to extend the phone line, or leave the router where it is and extend the ethernet cable from the router to the PC?

It's usually better to have the router at the master socket and extend ethernet to where it's required.

If you do extend the phone line use proper twisted pair cable like Cat5 or CW1308 and not flat phone cord.

https://claritybroadband.co.uk/clxcart/BT-Openreach-Line-Engineer-s-xDSL-Extension-Kit.html

If your existing socket has a RJ12 socket for the broadband (smaller than an RJ45) you'll need to cut the plug off this and wire it into the back of the socket

Dhrucku

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

do you want to extend the phone line, or leave the router where it is and extend the ethernet cable from the router to the PC?

It's usually better to have the router at the master socket and extend ethernet to where it's required.

If you do extend the phone line use proper twisted pair cable like Cat5 or CW1308 and not flat phone cord.

https://claritybroadband.co.uk/clxcart/BT-Openreach-Line-Engineer-s-xDSL-Extension-Kit.html

If your existing socket has a RJ12 socket for the broadband (smaller than an RJ45) you'll need to cut the plug off this and wire it into the back of the socket

Well I have a Sky Broadband hub coming in soon and would hook it up downstairs in the living room where the main phone socket is.

I thought it'd be just a simple fix to get a socket fitted upstairs and have the hub upstairs instead rather than through downstairs and having to run leads upstairs, which will be messy and mean taking wiring upstairs.

Jonesya

Why do you need to install wires?

You can have the router downstairs and access it using WiFi (wireless computer network) using a cheap USB WiFi adaptor. If you need a phone in the study then get a twin DECT wireless phone, again plugged into the master socket downstairs with the second phone upstairs.

In the past you needed to install phone extensions, Ethernet wiring but today the wireless solutions are just as good, plus easier and often cheaper.

Dhrucku

Jonesya wrote: »

Why do you need to install wires?

You can have the router downstairs and access it using WiFi (wireless computer network) using a cheap USB WiFi adaptor. If you need a phone in the study then get a twin DECT wireless phone, again plugged into the master socket downstairs with the second phone upstairs.

In the past you needed to install phone extensions, Ethernet wiring but today the wireless solutions are just as good, plus easier and often cheaper.

I like to stream, game etc and therefore don't want to drop out on connections/have latency issues etc. I know non-wired connections have improved but it'll never beat wired which is what I'm looking for.

Dhrucku

Installing one of those Homeplugs that use the internal wiring of the house as a substitute for extending ethernet cables is also an option.

Which would work out more quicker? Installing a socket upstairs or a Homeplug? I guess I'd take the best Homeplug in the category and compare it to a quote that the spark gives me and then go from there.

dj1471

As advised you need to connect your router to the master socket to get the best performance, you're best off extending upstairs on Ethernet.

I'd recommend wireless if you had a decent router, but the Sky box is rubbish by all accounts. With a decent router supporting 5 ghz Wi-Fi you'd have no issues with drop-outs or latency, I went for exactly this setup to avoid the hassle of running cables upstairs. However the Sky box only supports 2.4 ghz Wi-Fi which is likely congested if you live in a built-up area.

Dhrucku

dj1471 wrote: »

As advised you need to connect your router to the master socket to get the best performance, you're best off extending upstairs on Ethernet.

I'd recommend wireless if you had a decent router, but the Sky box is rubbish by all accounts. With a decent router supporting 5 ghz Wi-Fi you'd have no issues with drop-outs or latency, I went for exactly this setup to avoid the hassle of running cables upstairs. However the Sky box only supports 2.4 ghz Wi-Fi which is likely congested if you live in a built-up area.

As a result of the above, I've heard a lot of people using these plugs for Sky due to the WiFi being so bad. I still wouldn't trust WiFi simply because it's going through walls and it's pretty much a no-go when online gaming at the competitive level that I do.

Also are you saying that by running the connection through another power socket made upstairs that the connection wouldn't be on par with downstairs main even though they're delivering the same thing?

Running an ethernet cable from modem to upstairs would mean I'd need to get creative with the wiring as it'd have to go from the corner of the living room, above the ceiling, on top of the ceiling of the landing and down into the box room where I intend to set up a study.

ilikewatch

Surely any ethernet cabling would only need to follow the same route that the telephone extension cabling you proposed would have taken anyway?

dj1471

The longer the cable run the more loss there will be and the more noise will be picked up, that's why routers are always connected to the master socket. However if you're running a new extension with decent quality cable it probably won't make much difference, but if you're running a cable why not run Ethernet and keep the router downstairs?

Powerline adaptors may be a good solution, how well they'll actually work will be dependant on your wiring etc, will be cheaper than getting new cabling installed so worth a try first.

TheCyclingProgrammer

If your socket had a DSL extension terminal on it, you could run CAT5e from the back of the master socket to an extension upstairs and plug the router/modem into that.