Run Ethernet to upstairs home office

danlightbulb

danlightbulb

danlightbulb

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My home office/gaming room is in the smallest bedroom upstairs. The route will be to drill a hole in the external wall just underneath the bedroom window, then run the cable externally along and down the wall to the other side of the house where the main router is located in the living room.

What do I need to do this job in terms of cable type, ethernet sockets, terminating kits etc? Is it sufficient to run a single cable or do I need two?

Thanks


Edit: the route shown roughly in red. Cable comes out of wall where the orange circle is, then comes down to ground level going underneath the bay window and into the living room on the left hand side of the photo:

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danlightbulb said:
What do I need to do this job in terms of cable type, ethernet sockets, terminating kits etc? Is it sufficient to run a single cable or do I need two?
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I did exactly what you are wanting to do. I ran two cables from downstairs > outside > upstairs to the centre of the house where I had a network cab in. I ran two cables as that's how many I required. If you are planning on running Gb and wanting this then run two while you are at it.

I never put any cable in a tube I just clipped it to the wall and had 0 problems with transfer speed or weather conditions or interference.

As for the cable type I just used standard cat6 cable, standard cat6 ethernet sockets and cat6 patch panels.
 
danlightbulb said:
These terms don't mean a lot to me. I can google but if you have links to the right stuff I need to buy that would be extremely helpful.
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Basically you can terminate a new connector but it's quite fiddly for a novice, it's also a bit gash just having a wire come out of the wall.

The next alternative is a wall socket. Generally you get modular faceplates and then grab the keystone modules you need. Toolless modules mean you don't need the punch down tool.

YPLonon 2pcs RJ45 Socket Cat6 Network Faceplate Single Port Ethernet Wall Plate with 2pcs Keystone Jacks Toolless Installation Type 86 Module Connector for Home Network Installing https://amzn.eu/d/bIyMI90
^
I can't vouch for this personally but seems to say the right things.

Smedz CAT6 50 m Full Solid Copper UTP 24 AWG Indoor / Outdoor Plug and Play Network Cable GigaBit Ethernet Patch Lead – Black https://amzn.eu/d/aTkMI3I
This says it's full copper.

A patch panel makes no sense unless you're rack mounting something.
 
Just a suggestion.

Might be easier to go out of the living room, up the side of the house behind the drain pipe, through the soffit and into the loft. If doing that route I'd run a couple of spare cables in. Drop one down into your office and keep the rest coiled up in the loft. I'd also leave a bit of slack in the loft on the one you do terminate. It means you can relocate it later, it's also a get out of jail free card if you balls up the termination and have to cut end off.

You can then drop them down into any upstairs room as required.

Cat5e will probably be enough. But I'd run Cat6 to be future proof. The outdoor cable should either be run in conduit or should be an outdoor cable. The UV in sunlight will make normal cable go brittle.

Kit wise you will need.
Cable.
Surface mount back boxes.
Cat6/5 faceplates (depending on the cable used)
Some faceplates are modular. So you need a surround, blanking plate (unless your doubling up) and a module.
Trunking.

You will also need a punch down tool. Some wall plugs (probably red ones), screws, a drill, a couple of screwdrivers, wire cutter and either a Stanley knife or a cable stripper.
 
Ok so my situation is as follows:

Upstairs bedroom where I want the ethernet has my gaming PC in it. I also use it as my home office with my work laptop. At the moment everything connects via wifi to the Virgin router downstairs.

If I had ethernet into this bedroom, I could run the main PC on ethernet so would be much faster. But it wouldn't help the wifi for the work laptop (I don't have an issue though even when on video teams calls). It also won't help running the Quest 2 wirelessly, although I don't tend to do this I play wired mostly as there isn't the floor space upstairs.

With the PC connected Ethernet, the router is in the living room downstairs so I believe that I would then be able to run PCVR games wirelessly downstairs, controlling the PC remotely? At the moment this won't work because its all on wifi.

That's all I need at the moment. Eventually I might need to strengthen the wifi in the back of the house or garden, but I could run another cable for that in a different direction?
 
dlockers said:
The next alternative is a wall socket.
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I definitely want wall sockets, not a bare cable sticking out the wall. Both ends (living room and bedroom).

K.C. Leblanc said:
through the soffit and into the loft.
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I get what you're saying but its more awkward because I would then have to drop the cable in from the loft down my newly decorated walls. Its easier to go straight out the wall from a backbox, cables only visible externally. Also I don't have tall ladders to reach the outside soffit to clip the cables on.
 
If you're still rocking the native Virgin box for WiFi, you'll get considerably stronger and more consistent connection by sticking that in modem mode and grabbing a WiFi 6 tp link or something.

I'm not sure how your pcvr connects to answer your second Q. What device is it?

If you just run one cable you can always get a tp link deco that connects via ethernet, gives you a wireless ap, and an additional ethernet to plug into your pc.
 
dlockers said:
YPLonon 2pcs RJ45 Socket Cat6 Network Faceplate Single Port Ethernet Wall Plate with 2pcs Keystone Jacks Toolless Installation Type 86 Module Connector for Home Network Installing
Click to expand...
Do these fit on standard surface mounted plastic backboxes (like the ones used for electrical sockets)? What depth do I need (i'd like to go as shallow as possible)?
 
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danlightbulb said:
Do these fit on standard surface mounted plastic backboxes (like the ones used for electrical sockets)? What depth do I need (i'd like to go as shallow as possible)?
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Yep - unfortunately you're probably looking at 35mm because of how the jack sits in that photo, but the boxes are like 30 pence from Screwfix so treat yourself to 25mm and 35mm and see what happens.
 
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