Running RJ45 Network Cables inside walls ...and fixing Wi-Fi problems!

I've been having terrible problems with Wi-Fi in our new build house. The walls are mostly solid and the partitions all use metal studs, so it's like living in a Faraday cage. I've tried all sorts of wifi extenders but none of them have worked. I've also tried powerline ethernet but that was terrible too - probably due to multiple different ring mains. I'm giving up and installing a wired rj45 ethernet cable from the router to my computer, at the diagonally opposite corner of the house. Chasing and fishing cables is never fun but got there in the end. Did it help my internet connection problems? Too right it did!

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#WiFi #Ethernet #Cables

[SolveEtCoagula]

I love the honesty here - and have total empathy for the problems having spent many years running cables when working as a BT Engineer!

[robertcampbell]

Instead of ending the cable with an RJ 45 plug uses an RJ 45 keystone in a wall plate. This will let you plug a patch cable of the correct length for any placement you choose. Changes are easy and the plug end is easily damaged. replacing a patch cable is a lot easier than re-ending the end of the wall cable and finding that it is too short.

[georgeprout]

I would have added another length of garden twine to the CAT5 that was pulled up. If additional cables are needed in the future then you already have a pull in place (and you can rinse and repeat)

[kroozer]

Had the same issues, in the end i fed the CAT5 through the outside wall from one side of the house up the wall to the roof and across the loft, back outside on opposite house down the wall and into the room with the problems your having - I purchased one of those cheap kits off Amazon - did my own research on the wiring and fitting the plugs on the end of the CAT5, tested them all out on the cheap kit and it ll was good - got great internet now in a room we could not ever get in before.

[JohnKing-lwsb]

Used the same technique in our house but fortunately we had an ensuite shower which had a box behind it that I could physically get into from the loft and then managed to poke the cable down next to the soil stack through to another box in the cupboard below which was in the lounge where the router was. I didn't drill a big hole like you did, I just drilled a small whole in the bottom of the box and fed a cable upwards that I could then use the soil stack access hatch to get my arm in and grab onto. Worked a treat.

[NickBR]

Good video showing all the issues I have come across in doing this. I like the idea of the large holes- never done that and it makes it so much easier to feel around. (Saw your earlier video on filling these too.)
In my latest house I tried wireless solutions (mesh) like Ubiquiti but no good. In the end I got BT Whole Home and it works brilliantly on all floors once you place the discs properly (positioning software tool provided). Never thought I would use BT kit! I get 50Mbps in all rooms in the house now with no wiring.

[ajsnr]

used to work installing networks in the army in mainly old buildings one tip I used to do was attach one of those small laser pointers to the fish wire so it was easier to locate in dark attics or crawl spaces

[leovbernardo]

You were almost convincing me to do it at home until I saw the pop up "4 years later"!! Lol.. this is a freaking unpleasant job! Kudos to you for the courage

[EddyCarroll]

Lovely neat job Andy, very well explained and demonstrated as usual.

Wired all the way for reliability. If you get it properly installed at the start, it very rarely goes bad. I’ve done a ton of these over the years for friends & family and you still gave me a couple of new ideas.

I’d definitely have run a second cable for future proofing - splitters will drop your speed back to 100 mbps which might be okay for the Internet but is terrible for network drives. Plus you can use the second cable as a HDMI extender (with suitable encoders) which is often handy!

[leesmart]

No boxing in my house to chase cables down so I went outside... External grade Cat5e (black) clipped every 600mm and 90° turns, with internal RJ45 sockets in surface-mounted boxes. One run from office at rear of house to lounge at the front. Second round to the garage on the opposite side of the house where I keep my NAS. Gigabit switch in the office links it all together. Previous owner ran so many cables on the outside that once I'd stripped them all off, my pair of cables didn't look half bad.

[raysmith]

I used to put in data connections and my office at home suffered from a similar problem so I fitted 2 sockets in my office which went to where my router is problem solved I fitted sockets into the wall and then used Cat5E patch cables. However since I have swapped to Sky Internet my Sky Q boxes have now become wireless routers due to Sky fitting a range extender box where the dead spot was. A wired connection will always be better than a wireless. Well done and if you had said at Makers Central I could have let you use some of my cable as I still have a box left 😂

[Vintagesoundz]

Tool-less RJ45 plugs are also very good i have used these as have never crimped the plugs myself and only ever conencted into the sockets & patch panels. you just line the wires up ntop of their terminals and then close down the lid on the plug which has built in blades to crimp the wires into the plug, they are a built bulkier than the normal plugs but very quick and easy to install.

I installed a cctv system an dvr on our house and had to run all cables extenral and with minimal amount of cable on show as my mum hates seeing wires.

The dvr is sat in the loft, it needed a wired network conenction to be able to acces the cameras on our phones, and does not have wifi built into the dvr or the option for a wifi dongle either. I ran a black external grade cat 5 cable up the outside of the house from the BT socket where the router is up into the loft through the soffit, this was cable tied to the BT phone cable and then also next to this cable where it went into the soffit is where i installed one of the cctv cameras so only a short amount of cable was on show, also did the same front and back for 2 more cameras so they were out of site and impossible for people to reach and damage them.

Where the cable came into the bt socket I just cut out a bit of the socket back box for the cable to come through behind the socket front plate and terminated both ends with tool-less RJ45 plugs, i then also put a small switch in the loft and repurposed the trunking in the back bedroom that was for the old storage heater wiring to run a cat 5 cable from the switch in the loft to my bedroom as well as also run coax cables for the tv's meening i could do away with the rubish indoor aerials we had in the bedrooms. then in my bedroom bought a secondary acces point that is basically just a glorified router to run all my AV equpiment on wired networking and have wifi for all my wireless devices. So glad i did it all.

[SMee]

Tedious job, that one, however, it's now done! 👌
Good job, man. 👍

[Jaymanwong]

Watching the video of you feeding the cable through all these floors certainly make a lot of your fans said “ wish I was there to give you a hand “

[taylo]

House builders take note install network cables during build. Keep up with technology. I know some do but should be standard these days, in only pennies in scheme of things.

[clarkfinlay]

good job Andy shows it just takes time and lots of patiences, I think I would have conected each end to rj45 faceplate rather than using the crimping tool (or the lazy route and use a mesh wifi but wired will always be better for stablity)

[gfc]

Another useful tool for pulling cable is a long section of beaded / ball chain (like on an old lamp but larger beads and longer, about 20’) A long #10 or #13 ball chain has enough weight to drop down a wall without snagging on insulation and does a great job of deflecting around small obstacles.

[JerGoes]

I recently bought a house, during the 1st fix I also fitted cat5e cables to each of the bedrooms, instead of terminating the ethernet cables with RJ45s I opted for face plates with sockets and patch cables for each device.
(those cheap tester kits do what you need them to do, there is no rocket science here, either the pins are wired correctly or they are not, spending a fortune on a Fluke kit isn't necessary for domestic use).

[RaceJan]

Concrete walls and floors made me go wired too, port switched gigabit ethernet throughout in the house.

Nothing beats the speed and stability of wired LAN.

For mobile internet access I use both my router and a remote repeater (depending on where I am at the time).

Works like a charm :-)

[apsilonblue]

Nice job, running cable is always fun. Only thing is, never run 1 cable when you can run 4+. The cable doesn't cost much compared to the time you spend doing it. Even if you don't need them now you could've left a coil of cable at each floor and another in the attic etc long enough to reach any room on that floor and it's most of the job done for next time you want another point somewhere.