Ethernet Cable to Garden Office

united4ever

£597

It's about 30 meters and the router is at the front of house so would need drilling at front of house and then cable going down the side and along perimeter fence (not burying the cable or digging up ground - just armoured cable and cover with gravel where possible.

Includes Wi-fi access point and 5 port network switch - labour quoted at £200 (half a day - dunno if that is 1 or 2 people - 2 came for the quote)

My first thought was now way but now struggling to find other companies locally - am searching media solution companies and computer network installation companies. Long shot but any recommendations in South Manchester/North Cheshire?

FreeBear

£597, of which, £200 is labour - What are they using for cabling, solid silver ???

50m of cat-6 from Screwfix is less than £30. Sleeve it in 10mm PEX tubing for another £60, and a couple of quid for RJ45 connectors either end. No need for armoured cable unless you are running mains power out to the garden office.

If you are running power out there, the cable should be buried at the appropriate depth (min 450mm), and ideally in conduit. In some situations, you can get away with clipping the cable to a wall/fence.

Risteard

FreeBear said:

£597, of which, £200 is labour - What are they using for cabling, solid silver ???

50m of cat-6 from Screwfix is less than £30. Sleeve it in 10mm PEX tubing for another £60, and a couple of quid for RJ45 connectors either end. No need for armoured cable unless you are running mains power out to the garden office.

If you are running power out there, the cable should be buried at the appropriate depth (min 450mm), and ideally in conduit. In some situations, you can get away with clipping the cable to a wall/fence.

Really it would need to be armoured, and certainly at least duct grade. It's also the case that Cat5e/Cat6 cable is not sold in 50m lengths, but only in 305m (1,000ft) lengths.

FreeBear

https://www.screwfix.com/p/time-cat-6-grey-4-pair-8-core-unshielded-ethernet-cable-50m-drum/531jy

https://www.screwfix.com/p/time-cat-5e-grey-4-pair-8-core-unshielded-ethernet-cable-50m-drum/875jy

nuff said.

united4ever

bit more info on the quote

wi-fi Access point (Pro-Version) £140

External cat 6 cable £30

50m coil of flexible polypropylene conduit with junction box 62.50

5 port gigabit PoE Network Switch (Ai-Fi AP's) £65

All plus VAT

So trying to shop around but it's hard to get a decent quote from anyone unless I tried the rated people/Checka trade route which I don't really trust.

I know this is a moneysaving website but I am really bad at DIY so think it is better to get it done rather than DIY.

Eldi_Dos

If you were to use unshielded cable installed through tubing or conduit as suggested it would be prone to Osmosis, especially if attached to wall and fence were it would go through the hot cold cycle more often and if in sun during summer would act as oven and speed up this cycle and may even get temperature up to near maximum operating temperature. Better to go with SWA outdoor grade cable as per original quote.

As you seem to be having difficulty getting quotes any electrician would be able to carry this work and you would have the benefit of getting their advice about getting power out to what I presume is going to be a workplace.

Whoever does the work stipulate that non fading labels are attached were cables enter and exit through a wall for future reference.

united4ever

Yeah, it was a mistake on my part but had the electrics done by an electrician, older guy who wasn't sure about internet so just did the electrics. I read up on powerline technology for the internet and decided to let him just do the electrics and I would use poerline for the internet. The powerline is dissapointing - very flakey so I am now in this position of having to retrofit a cable.

ILoveSittingDown

Your wireless access point sounds expensive at £140. I have this one from Amazon for £20 in my garden office and it works fine.  Your original post stated a 5 port network switch was included, why do you need this if you are using a wireless access point? I have a switch that I use to connect my PS4 which was about £10 from Amazon. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WA901N-Wireless-Injector-Ethernet/dp/B087MSF7BR/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2TYNQWZ6O1UNP&keywords=tp+link+wireless+access+point&qid=1662464079&sprefix=tp+link+wirle%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-3

united4ever

I dunno, Is it common for tradespeople to hide higher labour costs in this way. I guess they are not paying these prices for materials. Is that common practice?

Rodders53

Powerline flakey?  Expand on that problem, please.

Powerlines often need to be on the same circuit to work reliably - unlikely the garden shed has a mains socket in the house to use a Powerline? Ensure the house Powerline is on a MCB off the same RCD at least.  They really don't like going through one RCD and out on another (as I found between my 'office' and the kitchen next door).
Even on the same ring (upstairs) my PLs occasionally lockup needing a power reset.  Otherwise they work well - even streaming Netflix and iPlayer UHD to my TV.

Or:
Consider a WiFi point to point solution between house and garden office?  https://www.cranegardenbuildings.co.uk/articles/how-to-extend-wi-fi-to-your-garden-office-or-shed
e.g. (but not a recommendation - you need to do the due diligence!) https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/19209-tp-link-cpe510kit/

You should have got the electrician to run a conduit and draw-cord in at the time of installing the mains cable... but that's too late now.

united4ever

I think it's on a different circuit see pics of installation below.

The PLs do work ok sometimes - like today. I tried resets many times which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. They are Devalo Magic Powerlines - bought on ebay though so I should have paid more to buy from retailer to be honest. I was leaving the main powerline adaptor in the house powered on all the time (the Devalo PL has a plug socket on the face of the powerline so I had the tv plugged into it (just poering the tv - nothing more) whilst the PL is plugges into the wall socket. Do you think this could be causing a problem? I could rejig the set up and get an extension cable to plug the tv into. I did find turning it off overnight improved it for a few days and thought that was my solution but then had a couple of days where it was rubbish so gave up hope. Then again today it is working fine. It's a head scratcher and it pushed me to think lets just sort it once and for all and get an ethernet cable done.

About the extenders. In the midst of my trials I have bought these TP-Link ones too for around £100:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Deco-S4-3-pack-Beamforming/dp/B0851D6MXY

I haven't unboxed them yet and was going to return them and put the money towards ethernet installation. I suppose I could try them and rebox them if they are rubbish. Have until next week to return them to Amazon. The guy who came to do this quote was quite dismissive of PLs (but he would say that) he said the foam insulation in the wooden cabin really blocks the signal.

Not sure if these pics help you to understand the set up.