Use ethernet couplers or just look for a longer cable

As it currently goes, I have a cable going to bedroom from living room switch but this ends about 4 or 5 feet from where my pc, consoles, smart tv is etc.

Currently I just use the pc and run a single cable a few feet to the bedroom switch but I have decided to use my smart tv when pc is off or play online games on xbox.

I also want to have a cable going to 2nd bedroom as I have a 78 meg connection but can only get about 40 wireless and if I download something in 2nd bedroom I have to currently either bring my laptop into living room or run a 10m cable into bedroom and have the extension lead and long power supply cable to connect the 2 but means whilst doing so I cannot use laptop and in the future when I get some new parts I will put my old desktop in there.

I have plenty of 10m cables but only one or two 20m cables, I assume 20m is perfect size if 10m gets about half way(could be more or less hard to work out just by looking)

So would a cheap 99p coupler work or would it it just be badly built and affect speed and quality?

Coupler isn't ideal but it will probably work perfectly well for what you need it to do. That said, you can get 20m ethernet cables for a few pounds these days off eBay. If the cable run is awkward and its easier to use a coupler as the cable is already down, use that. If not. Spend £5 and get a 20m cable.... I would suggest if you do end up using a coupler you transfer a file between two PCs at home to put your mind at rest the throughput is there, I think it will work fine...

Thanks, it was not a issue of price its that I have a lot of good quality cat6 cables that are 10m(and many are Belkin) and a few short ones so it was purely that I do not want to waste cables.

Anyway found my 20m cable and its long enough for bedroom 2 with a few feet spare.

As for my main bedroom the cable will be long enough if I drill a small hole in skirting board, one is already there on one side so its just making it go through, this will give me about 4 or 5 meteres extra cable perhaps more that will give me enough length and means the door for bedroom can be easily closed without a push.

On that subject what is a easy and cheap way to hold the wire down, I have gaps in the edges of carpet so it fits into it and doesnt look raised however as I havent stuck it down I have places like in corners where it looks bad due to the flex of the cable meaning it doesnt lie flat.

In reply to a post by mittenkrust:

So would a cheap 99p coupler work or would it it just be badly built and affect speed and quality?

Couplers work fine and don't affect speed or quality (why would they - do you worry about the ports on your hardware - you're much more likely to get a dodgy termination on a cable). I bought a bag of 10 on ebay for £2 inc postage once, I find them decent quality.

I suggest that you lift the corner of the carpet and underlay, curve the cable round on the exposed floor, say about a 2 to 3 inch diameter (50 mm to 75 mm), avoiding or cutting away segments of any carpet retaining strips but keeping some at the corner (possibly diagonally), then replacing the underlay and carpet.

Double-sided sticky tape may help, both at the corners and the other straight runs.

On straight runs, I would suggest that in future, when using carpet retaining strip, fit the strips slightly out from the wall, say half-an-inch or 12 mm, cut and fit the carpet right up to the skirting board, then pull up that edge to let the cable drop down in to the gap etc.

That way, you will still reduce any draughts coming in "under" the skirting board.