Internet from garage into house options

Happy_Harry · 03-10-2016 08:56AM #1

I got Imagine the other day, working very well.. However, the only place they could fit it was in the garage.

I intended to use power line extenders from garage to house, but for some reason it looses a lot of speed , probably something to do with wiring, despite only having one circuit board.

I have 3 options in my mind

1) Keep the powerline extender to get the connection into the house - free and no work required, but gets me only 20 out of the 60 Mb/s I get in garage

2) Buy a good router and external wifi antenna to blast the signal to the house from the garage , and then depending on the signal:
- Have an access point in the house and use the powerline to route the connection to the middle of the house and have another good router to spread the signal in the house OR
- If the signal from the garage wall is good enough , leave it and have wifi in the house from the garage (garage is approx 10m from house)
Either way the most expensive option and medium work required

3) Dig a trench, using a conduit lay ethernet cable to the house , and whilst I am at it also lay phone cable to use the imagine phone service as well.
Cheaper but a lot more work, and somewhere I read you shouldn't do this in order not to mess up earthing of the garage . Not sure I fully understand this, but maybe some one can enlighten me.

My preference would be the last option as not too expensive and I think will be the most efficient as well from a speed loss point of view (will probably only need 25 m of cat5 cable to achieve this). But I am worried about the earthing issue.

Any option I overlooked , or any one having done something similar ?

trompele · 03-10-2016 09:08AM

How about two of these

https://linitx.com/product/ubiquiti-airmax-nanobeam-nbe5ac16-16dbi-5ghz/14529

And an additional wifi ap at home?

Cuddlesworth · 03-10-2016 09:25AM

Does the Garage have its own fuseboard or is it part of the houses wiring?

Happy_Harry · 03-10-2016 09:44AM

trompele wrote: »

How about two of these

https://linitx.com/product/ubiquiti-airmax-nanobeam-nbe5ac16-16dbi-5ghz/14529

And an additional wifi ap at home?

Hmm, never saw anything like it, on first look, it seems very interesting.. but need to read a bit more about it. And I guess you need a pair of them ?

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Does the Garage have its own fuseboard or is it part of the houses wiring?

It's part of the house wiring

Cuddlesworth · 03-10-2016 09:56AM

Happy_Harry wrote: »

It's part of the house wiring

Separate structures would usually have a feed off the mains supply, with their own earthing and RCD/fuse. In your case it seems somebody just ran out a feed to it.

Home plugs would have a speed issue due to the distance involved.

Best option long term would be a Ethernet cable.

Short term option would be wireless.

Happy_Harry · 03-10-2016 10:20AM

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Separate structures would usually have a feed off the mains supply, with their own earthing and RCD/fuse. In your case it seems somebody just ran out a feed to it.

Yes, that is the case

Home plugs would have a speed issue due to the distance involved.

Best option long term would be a Ethernet cable.

Short term option would be wireless.

So there is no issue whatsoever laying an ethernet cable in the ground from the garage to house ? I guess it is better to use a plain copper cable rather than an outside CCA type cable ? Especially since it will be in a conduit and not exposed to the elements (other than frost perhaps)

Cuddlesworth · 03-10-2016 11:38AM

Happy_Harry wrote: »

So there is no issue whatsoever laying an ethernet cable in the ground from the garage to house ? I guess it is better to use a plain copper cable rather than an outside CCA type cable ? Especially since it will be in a conduit and not exposed to the elements (other than frost perhaps)

No different then running a cable between rooms.

I'd run a outside cable in a 1/4 or 1/2 inch pvc pipe across the span, run it up the wall and into the house. You wouldn't want to run a conduit into the house.

Happy_Harry · 03-10-2016 10:45PM

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

No different then running a cable between rooms.

I'd run a outside cable in a 1/4 or 1/2 inch pvc pipe across the span, run it up the wall and into the house. You wouldn't want to run a conduit into the house.

Right.. That is what I will do, thanks.

Now- what kind of cable do I use ? Cat5E outdoor I guess, do I use solid copper or CCA ? Any other specs I should look at ? I will not be using wall plates just a plug at either end. Total run will probably be 40m. I will be using either black water pipe or a few lengths of white pvc pipe for what I am going to put underground. Then run the cable along a waste pipe up to the fascia and from there into the house. Is there any need to bury the cable deep ? I was thinking 4 inches. Can I use normal silicone to seal the ends of the pipes?

How hard is crimping RJ45 plugs - I have no problems buying a tool. Are the plugs different for solid and for CCA ?

I presume WESCO would have all of this ?

trompele · 04-10-2016 07:08AM

Hi,
If you want really good grade of external cat5 look at buying ubiquiti carrier or pro external wire along with plugs that can be grounded. Crimping is easy enough but make sure you lookup proper wire order. Buy few more more plugs and try couple of times. Not a rocket science.

Cuddlesworth · 04-10-2016 08:26AM

Proper outdoor cable is waterproof and UV proof. I wouldn't bother trying to seal the pipes, they are just there to avoid the cable getting chewed by you or critters.

Happy_Harry · 04-10-2016 09:18AM

trompele wrote: »

Hi,
If you want really good grade of external cat5 look at buying ubiquiti carrier or pro external wire along with plugs that can be grounded.

Do I really need high grade cable ? It is to move internet from one place to the other in a domestic setup ? It is not a life/death situation and even if I have 5-10% speed loss, I will live.. It seems that lower grade (CCA) outdoor cable is easier to come by. It is not a matter of it needing to be the cheapest of the cheapest solution, but hate to pay for something I don't need.

seamus · 04-10-2016 09:37AM

No, you don't need to go crazy with the grade or grounding or anything like that. At the end of the day if the cable degrades or you accidentally split it while digging, it's no big deal to replace it. Nobody is going to die from an electric shock and you won't have to pay a sparks to replace it.

If the option is there to run an external cable along a wall rather than burying it, then that's the ideal. External cable can be buried without any kind of conduit, but obviously the odds of it being split by an errant shovel are much higher.

Happy_Harry · 04-10-2016 09:58AM

The garage is detached and about 10m away from the house, so will have to do some digging I am afraid. I can dig a trench across the drive or indeed bury the cable along the kerbs of the lawn. Only issue I have is the 2 concrete footpaths, one at the garage, one at the house. I was thinking of drilling a long-ish sloped hole to about the middle of the pathway and then just run the cable over it to the wall to avoid any sharp bends. I am just a bit wary about it being a trip hazard.

Cuddlesworth · 04-10-2016 10:00AM

Pull 1 or 2 lengths of plastic twine through the piping as well. Makes cable additions in future much easier.

Happy_Harry · 04-10-2016 10:14AM

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Pull 1 or 2 lengths of plastic twine through the piping as well. Makes cable additions in future much easier.

Thanks- that is what I will do indeed..

Happy_Harry · 07-10-2016 09:13AM

In preparation for the digging work this weekend I have been mocking about with cable connectors and a crimp tool..

Whilst on the surface I get a perfect crimp after a few tries, I know it is not right.. moving the cable connects/disconnects.. I also read people suggesting not to bother crimping solid copper wire as it will give problems , maybe no now, but in the future.. I can see this..

So, the solution to that would be running the cable between 2 sockets, as connecting them is a lot easier.

But this is where the problem is ... I have a RJ45 plug in the garage and RJ45 port on my router in the house.

Can I have a socket in the garage where I plug my modem cable in and then run a cable from that socket to another socket in the house where I plug in a lan cable to my router ? It seems unlogical.

So the question really is - can you use an ethernet socket the other way round ? Feeding it with a plug and routing it to destination with a cable in the wall ?

Cuddlesworth · 07-10-2016 12:16PM

Nothing wrong with device - cable - socket - outdoor cable - socket - cable device , as long as its wired up as per standards. The socket will have a standard or two attached to it, pick one and stick with it on both ends.

Sockets also help as solid core cable is static and shouldn't be flexed much over time, as it would be if it was direct connected into devices rather then into a wall socket.

Crimping can also be annoying, there is a knack to it. After you have done a few hundred it seems easy and you kinda forget that.

Happy_Harry · 07-10-2016 02:16PM

New supplies bought..

Will there be much extra resistance by having two additional connections ? The modem/antenna is powered over ethernet 12V by the router. Ideally I want to bring the router in house and leave modem/antenna at the garage.

Cuddlesworth · 08-10-2016 04:05PM

Happy_Harry wrote: »

New supplies bought..

Will there be much extra resistance by having two additional connections ? The modem/antenna is powered over ethernet 12V by the router. Ideally I want to bring the router in house and leave modem/antenna at the garage.

Shouldn't make a difference. At worst, the speed between the 2 ends decreases but your looking at a base rate of 1gig.

Happy_Harry · 08-10-2016 08:52PM

Tada.... after a really hard day's work involving kangos and pick axes, as well as sweating in the eaves of my attic I got it working, and even the wife is impressed how neat the job is.. 60Mb/s is in da house ..

Cuddlesworth · 08-10-2016 08:57PM

Happy_Harry wrote: »

Tada.... after a really hard day's work involving kangos and pick axes, as well as sweating in the eaves of my attic I got it working, and even the wife is impressed how neat the job is.. 60Mb/s is in da house ..

Congrats. And on the plus side, its a solution for well over a decade that will work for you.

Happy_Harry · 08-10-2016 09:33PM

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Congrats. And on the plus side, its a solution for well over a decade that will work for you.

That will all depend on Imagine I am afraid.. But yes, since there will be no fibre this decade for me, it should be a multi-year investment.

It feels good as well... Hadn't seen the inside of a network cable before last week, and now with a bit of research, trial, error and persistence, I got this to work.. A bit like when I managed to coax cable my whole house and put in fairly complex sky distribution system 5 years ago.

Thanks for the encouragement and tips along the way.

BTW.. I hear everybody complaining how poor the wifi of the Imagine router is.. Well, maybe because I picked a spot in the middle of the house to place it, but I have full bars in every room in the house, and by no means is it a small house. It is far better than the B593 I have and that was not particularly bad either.

Internet from garage into house options

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