[Closed] Broadband question- home wiring

WiFi dongle for the PC and join the 20th century?

Also, CAT5 is sooooo last season. It's all about the CAT6 these days.

WiFi or Cat 7.

You'd have to be doing some serious streaming to get performance issues with homeplug (assuming your wiring is OK and both points are linked to the same consumer unit). I've one of the cheaper previous generation sets (can't remember the claimed throughput) and that's fine.

Homeplug works perfectly if you don't want to/can't go wireless. The last time I touched mine was 5 years ago - when we moved to this house.

CAT7? I've got a long CAT5 in a cupboard. With Sky bb speeds, would I really benefit from CAT7??

[i]WiFi dongle for the PC and join the 20th century?[/i]

I think, I may be wrong though, that the Sky router has a limited number of wifi device connections... I should research, I suppose.

Cat 5e is fine for up to 1 Gigabit ethernet. Yes, Cat 6 is faster, but trickier to install correctly. eg there are restrictions on the bend radius, and how it is terminated.

CAT7? I’ve got a long CAT5 in a cupboard. With Sky bb speeds, would I really benefit from CAT7??

Cat 7 we will make your posts come alive.

I'm sure you'll have plenty of space for another WiFi connection.

Cool, thanks chaps. I might have a dongle somewhere too, will see what the signal is like upstairs.

Cat 6 is faster

But a network connection is as fast as it's slowest point.  Does your Sky router have 10GB Ethernet ports?

There is zero point in using anything beyond CAT5e in a domestic installation.

youy mean you didn't rewire your whole house and put an Ethernet port next to every plug so your house looks like an office - as it seems is standard advice on house rewire threads on here.

i used what ever Cat cable i found in the cupboard.

But a network connection is as fast as it’s slowest point.  Does your Sky router have 10GB Ethernet ports?

There is zero point in using anything beyond CAT5e in a domestic installation.

Just to be pedantic, there is - well, almost. Technology moves a lot quicker than home renovation.

If you're getting a chap in to run data to every room (why is beyond my comprehension but people do) it's worth adding 5% to the cost to have CAT6, just in case 10 years from now 10GB is the norm and you can't bare the thought of having a 'slow' gigabyte connection to your smart fridge or whatever.

'Temporary' solution though, there's no point at all.

Also, to really ramp up the geek factor - Cat6 isn't 10,000Mbps, that's CAT6A, or CAT7

Now you’re showing off and going beyond useful information 😉

Back to some sensible answers.

We have CAT5/6 flat cables from the router to two gaming machines upstairs. Everything else uses wifi, but we also have a mains wifi extender to the garage (mainly for Zwift) - works fine and fast.  Unless you are really shifting massive amounts of data, you won't notice what ever connection you have. We can be streaming movies/netflix from 2-3 devices, browsing and gaming without affecting speed on  Infinity 2 - (76mb).     20mb broadband would struggle.

Your internet connection is much slower than your Ethernet/wifi connection to your router.  Even old ethernet is 100mb.

The flat cables are really good for laying under carpets

I run CAT5 ethernet and gigabit switches, but that's due to having a NAS as general file and media server plus big desktop PC for work development use and I want to shift files about the network without waiting minutes. The router has a short cable to the nearest gigabit switch (as not a gigabit router as most aren't given far slower Internet connections typically).

Internet is 76Mbps-ish, which is fine.

TV and various gadgets are wired to a switch, just to reduce the amount of wifi signals bouncing around the house which can help with the signal for the gadgets that need wifi and less to conflict with the dozen other signals from neighbours houses.

TV and various gadgets are wired to a switch, just to reduce the amount of wifi signals bouncing around the house which can help with the signal for the gadgets that need wifi and less to conflict with the dozen other signals from neighbours houses.

This is my philosophy too - anything stationary gets hard-wired if reasonably possible.  We are renting, so running cat5/6/7 isn't an option - so I use homeplugs to connect my NAS (upstairs in a cupboard) and my apple TV in the lounge, with the router in the office.

The new generation of homeplugs are great - particularly if your wiring is somewhat decent.  They've been completely fit-and-forget, and you can mix brands too - so you can add units over time.

If you’re getting a chap in to run data to every room (why is beyond my comprehension but people do) it’s worth adding 5% to the cost to have CAT6,

Except, it's not, because "a chap" is not going to have the prerequisite skills to provide a CAT6 installation.  CAT6 is more than just a bit of wire.

Well, after all that I've decided (I think) that I'm going to ask Sky to immediately upgrade me to fibre.

The phone line connection gubbins is just crap. For one thing there is no power socket convenient enough to plug the (short!) power cable to the Sky router. Power cable stretches out one way and the phone connection the other and the router has to sit in the middle. It's a mess. Then the Sky+ box doesn't have wireless, so I'd have to pay out for a dongle. And my NAS is upstairs, so another homeplug needed for that... Argh! Fibre is just all wired in the right place.

So they'd better not try to charge me their £50 setup fee 🙁

You know the fibre is still delivered over the phone line, right?  It's fibre to the street cabinet, not your house.

Yep, I've just found that out. What a pain in the arse. I

I'm trying to found out if Sky will move my openreach port, but it's like chinesepullingteethwhisperswhilebangingyourheadagainstawall

Started conversation at 11:24. It's now 15:08 and I've finally found out that they want £65 to move my phone line. I've told them I'm not paying that, I'll cancel and go back to Virgin Media. Should know their answer by 17.30.

Apparently you can't get a longer DSL cable to the router as it will cause "problems with the internet" ffs. Hopeless bastards