Student housing internet woes.

cwtaylor

cwtaylor

cwtaylor

Associate
Joined
26 Dec 2007
Posts
42
Hey all just gonna run this by you all and see what the best way for best speeds is.

In September i start uni and im sharing a house with 3 other guys. We are all on an IT course so internet and the like is a big issue.

We have our internet being connected, Sky Max or whatever, with one wireless router.
The router will be plugged in downstairs in the master bedroom. The thing we have is me and another guy both have desktops and dont fancy using wireless due to bad experiences in the past with poor reception and the like. I looked into powerline and this seems a good idea for desktops. I have never even seen one of these powerline adapters let alone used one, so are they any good and worth the money. Another option is to use wireless, which we would need a better router and two desktop wireless adapters.

So what option should i go for. We have asked landlord if we can run cat5s everywhere but he aint too pleased with that option. Help?
 
If you're using powerline, you'll need to check you're on the same circuit in the house. If not, wireless seems the only option. Another suggestion is to properly run cables outside the house and fit faceplates etc and explain to the landlord beforehand that you'll be adding value to the house.
 
Using the powerline option is very good. I have set up countless of these in older properites where wireless is an issue due to property size etc.
 
Shame about your landlord, ours let us runs metres of the stuff around our house. However I do still recommend cat5 cable just use something like ducktape to fix it in place which shouldn't damage any finishes and can be easily removed at a later date.
 
i would go for the wireless option first as if that works it will be cheaper than the powerline adapters and less messy than having metres of cabling everywhere.
 
Oh come on, you're a student. A student house isn't a student house without cat5 ran across floors and up stairs and over roofs.....
 
jdickerson said:
Oh come on, you're a student. A student house isn't a student house without cat5 ran across floors and up stairs and over roofs.....
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:D

The best one was my mate, he ran his cat5 out the window, up the side of the house into the attic!

CAT5 would be the best way to go and just run it temporarily if the landlord doesn't want you making a mess of the place.

Failing that look into a decent router, and some decent PCI Wireless Cards. Can't speak for powerline - never had to deal with them.
 
MikeHiow said:
Are you sure? As far as I was aware, if you're on the same phase, they'll work. How would a breaker make any difference?
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You may have a point there :) From what i am reading, it's possible on different circuits but speed is reduced. Probably not enough to affect internet throughput though. Maybe someone with experience of this can tell us more.

Wireless can be awful with the wrong equipment. I've had belkin, netear and linksys usb adapters and all of them were awful at maintaining a connection. We often had to unplug and replug them, or even restart the pc to get the internet working. We've now got Surecom adapters which have never skipped a beat.
 
thanks for all the replies. Wireless option would be £100 plus adapters, powerline would be £100 ish. But cat5 would be waaayyyy cheaper... so i dunno...
 
Moses99p said:
What can cause that, though?
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Absolutely everything lol. We we're having a lan at my mates house, and with the kitchen light on we lost all connection, as soon as it was off fine full signal again, mad!

I recommend getting a decent router (WRT54GL + Tomato) and seeing how wireless goes, running cables to areas that dont get a good enough signal. I don't know why the landlord wont let you run cables along skirting and stuff, weird.

Luckily my student house is properly wired up with cat5e to each room and gigabit switches on each floor.
 
well im looking into cat5 now and wireless everywhere else. Trying to think how long a cable i will need. will be moving in saturday so will need to get my head in gear. OcUK only do 30m max, might need more.
 
just use cat5, and tape, so it is all safe and scure to the wall and floor, dont want to trip when your drunk lol, also if ya want to know lenghts just use a long peice of string to get ideas, act the same as wire, will give you a good idea
 
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