Hardwired Internet in attic

Aeternum

Just wondering if there is any way to get hard-wired internet in the attic of a house if there is no phone line socket? Would I just have to find a cable and run it from the modem in the downstairs hallway? No easier way?

Graham

If you have mains sockets in the attic you could look at a cheap pair of powerline adapters.

Aeternum

Graham wrote: »

If you have mains sockets in the attic you could look at a cheap pair of powerline adapters.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1397640/Trail/searchtext%3EPOWERLINE+ADAPTOR.htm

Would that be suitable? Would an ethernet cable just run from that adaptor to the computer?

IrishKnight

Aeternum wrote: »

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1397640/Trail/searchtext%3EPOWERLINE+ADAPTOR.htm

Would that be suitable? Would an ethernet cable just run from that adaptor to the computer?

That would be suitable. You would plug one connect that to your router via ethernet cable, then plug in the other anywhere in the house and connect it to the PC again via ethernet.

Aeternum

Sounds prefect thank you!

Praetorian

I ran cat6 all over my house. I have a mini cinema in my attic, so I wanted good connectivity for my media center / consoles. So I actually drilled a hole to outside the house and ran the cat6 behind a gutter up into the attic. It's almost completely hidden. It has worked perfectly for years. I didn't even use a waterproof cable. It's just a good quality regular cable that I brought from amazon for about 25 euro. After running the cable, and using some cable ties, I just filled the hole with some filler. I have more cat6 going to the media player in my sitting room and also to my office on the second floor.

If you aren't confident to do something like this yourself, or if you don't have good long drill bits, then get an electrician to do it.

I've deployed power line adapters a few times now. Generally speaking the speeds seem to be about 4-5 megabytes a second. This would be fine for most people, but I prefer 60-70 megabytes a second from cat6

Graham

Praetorian wrote: »

I've deployed power line adapters a few times now. Generally speaking the speeds seem to be about 4-5 megabytes a second. This would be fine for most people, but I prefer 60-70 megabytes a second from cat6

Depends on the adapters you're using, I've deployed a few of the 200 / 500 adapters and they operate fairly consistently at around 50% of their rated speed. Sounds like your experience is with the old 11Mb powerline adapters.

If all you're doing is extending a 1 - 24Mb internet connection you're unlikely to need more than a power line adapter can provide.

vibe666

the speed of powerline adapters is VERY dependent on the wiring in the house and where it's going and what else you've got plugged in (inc. things like CFL bulbs in some cases).

if you're just going room to room on the same wiring circuit (i.e. fuse in your fuse box) it will also be faster. i've used 200mbps ones and never got more than 20mbps out of them (on a good day).

do you have cavity walls?

depending on how the cavity is put together (all vertical or some horizontal braces), you might just be able to drop a cable straight down the cavity from the attic to where you need it to go and put a panel on the wall nex tot your router the same as a plug socket, like this.



then you just need to run a short lead the rest of the way and it looks nice and tidy.

Praetorian

Those power line adapters were the newer faster type, upto 500m/bit

Although I was installing in two fairly large houses...50m/bit approx. is the best I have seen, around 4-5 megabytes per second.

You can't beat real cable, but power line is a very good alternative.

Xennon

Thing about those powerline links is they tend to be cheap POS. Had a pair... they got hot....wasnt happy with leaving them on 24/7...ran cable...sleep at night.

Apiarist

Praetorian wrote: »

....50m/bit approx. is the best I have seen, around 4-5 megabytes per second.

You can't beat real cable, but power line is a very good alternative.

With a set of older powerline adaptors ("200 Mbps") I get around 5-15 Mbps (1-2 MB/sec). Really thinking about doing some wall drilling.

vibe666

quite often it's not a huge job if you have plasterboard covered cavity walls with no horizontal beams in the internal walls, but it's an ideal opportunity to make friends with an electrician to get him to do it for you.

i've also done it myself via the whole out the window frame, down the gutter and in the air vent method and that wasn't too hard either, but running a cable and terminating it with a wall plate at each end looks a lot tidier imho.

the other thing is that gigabit speeds versus powerline adapters is a godsend if you're ever copying large amounts of files.

Once you've broken 100MB/s on your home LAN, you'll wonder how you ever managed without.

although i've sinced moved house and i'm stuck on wifi for now again, but i'll get it back one day.

Aeternum

So I went for a set of powerline adaptors in the end and am delighted with them! Getting speeds of 50 mbps so can't complain at all