Running external ethernet - cost?

MrRockliffe · 13 Apr 2021 at 16:50

Hi all,

I recently had FTTP 900 installed into my front room, and I'm looking to get a wired ethernet connection to my office.

I'd like to do this externally.

Floor plan below:

What would this sort of installation cost, and who should I enquire with? Electrician? AV Installer?

Thanks in advance.

MrRockliffe · 13 Apr 2021 at 16:57

Caged said:
Newcastle and Sussex prices.

Probably closer to £300 then

Lives in nice area? Check
Sounds like a trust fund kid? Check
Looks like a trust fund kid? Check

That'll be £500 please.

MrRockliffe · 13 Apr 2021 at 18:43

bremen1874 said:
Is the access difficult (dead image link so can't tell)?

Drilling a couple of holes and clipping some cable isn't a terribly complicated job.

Caged said:
Looks to be second floor - what's the access like to the walls where you want this done?

Access is good. Perhaps a slight restriction along the length of the of the living room, due to ladder access coming from a neighbours garden, but otherwise good access all round.

MrRockliffe · 14 Apr 2021 at 07:00

doug_1986 said:
Don't fancy having a crack at it yourself? If it's just running a cable it can be really rather easy, assuming you have the right tools.

50m of external use CAT6 is a little under £17, and the jacks that they terminate into are less than £2 each.

Punching down/ terminating an Ethernet cable to a jack is surprisingly easy. I had no previous experience and managed it easily following along to a YouTube video.

The hardest part is drilling a big hole in your house!

If I owned the house I would. However I am also very busy at the moment.

I’d rather just pay someone to do it

MrRockliffe · 14 Apr 2021 at 10:32

doug_1986 said:
Yeah, I can understand that. There's a certain point, which arrives really rather quickly, where it's just more economical to get someone in!

My advice then would be to avoid the dedicated AV / network installers. They tend to charge a premium, when really any standard Electrician can do this easily. The only difference between this and something like running electricity to a shed, is that instead of terminating 3 cables into a plug socket, they're terminating 8 cables into an Ethernet jack. It doesn't take hugely specialist training!

I’ll get in touch with some locals and see if I can get some quotes together.

Will report back with figures - may provide a good reference point for the future.

MrRockliffe · 14 Apr 2021 at 10:42

For me, this isn’t a case of being able to do it, it’s

Having the time
Liability

I.e. if I mess it up (unlikely, but possible), then I’m going to have to fix it.

If a qualified individual messes it up (even more unlikely, but possible), it’s their responsibility to resolve.

£70 is (relatively) nothing - I’d much rather just pay someone to do it and do it properly.

MrRockliffe · 14 Apr 2021 at 11:43

Cyber-Mav said:
Waaa? Wifi can sort that.

I’ve spent a lot of money on proper mesh solutions and the only stuff that’s going to hit 900Mb is WiFi 6 Netgear Orbi, and they’re mega expensive.

Then you have to deal with WiFi

Cyber-Mav said:
I thought he digging to office that at back of the house in garden

It’s a coach house so single floor but on the second floor.

Won’t need armoured cable :-)

MrRockliffe · 14 Apr 2021 at 13:23

Cyber-Mav said:
How are the nodes connected? Wired or wireless?

Wireless, but this was at previous property

MrRockliffe · 14 Apr 2021 at 14:23

Cyber-Mav said:
wifi backhaul is bad.

Hence the thread ;-)

MrRockliffe · 19 Apr 2021 at 18:58

sandys said:
I do over 900Mb between upstairs and downstair using a pair of AX3 wifi 6 routers with 160Mhz channel. they were very cheap, less than the prices for wiring being quoted here, still wired is better and wires will be compatible with faster speeds as they inevitably arrive, depending on quality of cable you might be able to run upto 10Gb over ethernet but at the very least 2.5 or 5Gb.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/34600074

Note that post is to LAN devices connected to the wifi APs, wifi devices connecting to the same bridge are slower due to repeating signal and the AX3s having no backhaul.

When you say AX3s have no backhaul, how are they connected to one another?

I’m generally not keen on Huawei stuff - I’ve never had good experience with their networking equipment long term, and would rather have an Ethernet connection directly into fibre.

MrRockliffe · 19 Apr 2021 at 20:10

sandys said:
They connect over the wifi channel in a standard way, so would be limited in a wifi congested area as there are no extra channels for backhaul which is what the pricier gear does, you can wire a backhaul on these APs for extra performance of wifi connected devices so it doesn't have to repeat which knocks out speed due to back and forth comms but doing a point to point link wifi ap to wifi ap its pretty quick with 160Mhz channels as shown, limited by the LAN port.

definitely wired is the way to go, but if you are stuck wifi can do GB LAN speeds, I still plan to wire mine at some point though.

These Huawei are great performers but they are cheap because they aren't brilliant software wise, lacks a lot of features that something like Asus or netgear etc. have, plus some of the features it claim to have don't work well like parental control or guest wifi but its core feature of fast wifi 6 it does fairly well.

So wouldn't recommend if you need all the bells and whistles but if you want to add cheap wifi 6 to something it is fine.

That’s great info - thank you