Extending wifi

Mickey666

FaceHead said:

Ethernet cabling will provide the best performance, reliability and longevity. However, the OP has already suggested that chasing walls and ripping up floorboards is unacceptable, which isn't an unreasonable position. This is when people start to look at powerline, WiFi boosters and the like.

Can ethernet cabling be run outside the house? It really depends on what in the layout are external walls. Most cables are weather protected and designed for this.

From a faceplate near the router, cable can go straight outside, avoiding chasing that wall. Outside it may be able go around the house (potential below ground level, or discreetly clipped to the wall) and back through the wall, straight into the second faceplate. For minimum disruption the two faceplates can be on pattress boxes, but ideally they are mounted flush by sinking backboxes into the wall. 

I entirely agree that it's the physical implications of Ethernet cabling that puts most people off using what is undoubtedly the cheapest and fastest form of connectivity.

But, as described in the early posts in this thread, the OP lives in a bungalow so running ethernet cables through the attic space should be very easy and a ceiling mounted wifi access point would require just one small invisible hole in the ceiling, and using PoE technology it's not even necessary to have access to power for the access points.  In fact, the access points could actually just be laid on the ceiling plasterboard in the attic for a totally invisible solution and still give a strong signal in the room immediately below.  So the only bit of visible wiring sould be the single ethernet cable from the router up into the attic.  This could be easily hidden in a corner, or in thin trunking or perhaps even run upwards behind cupboards, shelves, or whatever, depending on where the router is located.   No chasing of walls required.

FWIW, in my house I have two telephone lines and I had the master socket of the second line specifically installed in my attic space so that my router could initially be hidden away completely out of sight, along with the Ethernet cabling running to other parts of the house.  As I mentioned previously, I disable the wifi function of my router so it doesn't matter where it is located.  No chasing of walls required, no ugly cables fixed to the outside walls of the house, no cables visible inside the house. 
A little imagination goes a long way

BTW, I disagree that 'Most cables are weather protected and designed for this.' [outside use] because standard Ethernet cable is not designed for outdoor conditions in terms of damp or UV stability.  However, outdoor Ethernet cable is widely available, albeit at an extra cost, so be careful to use the correct type of cable depending on the application.