Hi guys,
Getting Infinity activated on Tuesday, and the master socket it right by my front door. The living room is a bit too far to just run a cable and also I want it upstairs in the office.
I'm not that confident in running them through the walls (Wouldn't know where to start) so I was think about getting a conduit/cable trunk along the wall's to upstairs.
My main question is, CAT5e or CAT6a?
Secondly what would the smallest size for the conduit I would need just to fit the 1 cable (Switch in the office).
Nobody has said this yet but if you are having an engineer visit he MAY (depends on his mood and how the cable comes into your house) move the master socket if you want freely for you (check and ask first if there will be a charge). Some will be jobs worths and technically write it all down and you get billed and others (if its easy to do will just do it freely) Check with him/her first.
If your cable enters the property via a phone pole and there is enough cable to just disconnect it from your socket, relocate the socket and connect it all up the engineer (if he is one of the nicer ones) will do that for nothing (its when the cable is fixed in place somehow, (clips, through more than one wall, not easily removed etc) that costs normally get added.
As for cable types if its under a 50 Metre run CAT5e cable will be fine, this is what BT use for their (max 30M) VDSL extension kits. Use solid cable rather than stranded especially if its running externally. Conduit you will want minimum of 10mm though 15mm or thereabouts is probably better (As a rough guide it varies a bit... Cat5e cable is 6mm diameter typically cat6 is 7mm and cat6a and beyond 8mm).
CAT6 is nice to have and is a bit thicker, well worth it if cost difference is small over CAT5e and is what i would probably use. CAT6A and FTP (foil twisted pair) stuff is total waste of money and overkill. FTP stuff is also even thicker, will not bend around corners etc as easy and is a right mare to stop it curling back on itself. For anything less than 100M though CAT5e will be fine for most people for the next 5-10 years or more.
If running it internally you can buy cornicing/trunking that looks similar to skirting board for a couple of quid for a metre or two. This is more wife friendly than an ugly round tube. (do a google images search for "network cabling skirting board" you can buy it from various online vendors and even places like wickes which someone mentioned already).
I personally suggest you fit a cat5/6 faceplate in the room you extend the cable to. Then run a standard network cable in the room from that to computer/routers/switches. RJ45 cable plugs have a nasty habbit of breaking when you dont want them to (normally the little sprung latch) with a faceplate you will not have that issue, it also is neater and is the way things should be done rather than some pre terminated 30+ metre cable. Though if you are not comfortable doing that a long pre terminated cable is ok.
An earlier poster mentioned a youtube video by Mr telephone AKA My mate vince i personally suggest you watch all his relevant videos...
https://www.youtube.com/user/mymatevince
You will likely learn a lot or a little but you will likely learn something.
, I'd even run one cat5e to use as a vdsl extension and another to use as a wireless access point if wireless coverage is poor upstairs. Make sure the cables are twisted pair and non cca for best results. All cables can be terminated in one box and all you need is rj45 and a rj11/12 module.
