Wiring ethernet across a 90s house

I'm gonna be moving into a house that was built in the mid- to late-90s and early on what I wanna do is get wired Ethernet installed to the upstairs bedrooms and lounge. What I was thinking of doing was getting a little cabinet built around the Openreach box where I could stick the router on top, wire it to a switch below inside the cabinet, and have that plug in to a bunch of wall sockets via patch cables. Is that a good idea, though? If so what cables are best to use, cat5e or cat6? I've seen elsewhere that sometimes Ethernet over fibre is used but presumably that'd need to have a powered media converter at each end of every connection which sounds like a right ballache.

How tricky is it for a builder to knock holes in walls and do this with a house of this kind of age? Or should a specialist networking company be brought in to do it? I'd like to have the cables run in the walls rather than around skirting board etc. and I'd rather the cables not go outside the house, just seems like they'd have less wear and tear if they're all indoors.

I'm also open to any other ideas for decent connectivity to the various rooms that I haven't considered. I'm guessing we're all agreed that Wifi isn't a great long-term solution?

Cat5e is way easier to run than Cat6 - but top speed is a limit although, 1Gbps is enough for domestic use and will be for years.

Run infrastructure cables from sockets at te remote location back to your switch location and terninate in a patch panel.

Depending on how many cables you can get different patch panel sizes and could consider using 2x 12 way 10" on a mounting bracket.

Yeah what I'm wondering is how tricky it'll be to run the infrastructure cables, particularly the interior walls (which presumably shouldn't have insulation between them). Do specialist companies have ways of doing this without totally destroying the walls?

You should be able to work out what walls are structural and which ones aren’t.

Structural walls will have no cavity and you’d need to chase a cable into the plaster, the same way as if doing an electrical rewire.

Non-structural walls are likely wooden stud, so there is likely a cavity but it’s not guaranteed to run floor to ceiling.

Do you have wooden floors with carpets in top? I would run cables under the floors with one place selected to connect downstairs to upstairs. Are there any places with a cupboard downstairs and directly above?

When buying cable, cat6 isn’t much more expensive so I’d plan for that. Ensure it is designed for permanent install - that normally means it is solid copper and not stranded copper or even worse, aluminium.

I’d say the hardest part is planning - you don’t want to realise in a years time you missed a location for Ethernet. I would ensure you have Ethernet in places you’d want a WiFi extender - perhaps even some ceiling drops for ceiling mounted access points.

In a lot of cases, in a home, the thickness of plaster on all your walls will be thicker than the cables so you can probably run horizontal and verticals without having to do any chasing into bricks etc. You don't need a specialist company providing you keep an eye on the builder or work person doing the drilling and running etc.

At present time I'd probably say Cat6 is a better bet than Cat5e now but MHC is completely correct that 1GigE will be fine for a very long time still.

The other alternative is invest in some high quality WiFi system and the difference may be reasonably negligable at that point.

It tends to be Smart TVs which like being wired in which I think is generally due to them cheaping out on CPU and WiFi chipsets/hardware in the TV - most other stuff is fine on WiFi.

Giving away one of my secrets here. Look at these https://www.screwfix.com/search?search=flat+bits&bra... they are flat bit borers with a threaded point, rather than a splined point. If you can get under a floor, you can get under a stud wall and use one of these to bore upwards. Obviously, you work out where the uprights are first. You might have to cut the shank down a bit and you can't use a power drill, but you use something like a tap wrench to hold the bit and press up enough to get the thread started. But once it is started, the thread drags the bit in while you turn. And that enables you to access a socket position.

I'd imagine if you're an experienced builder you can knock on a wall and tell whether it's hollow or not, but... I'm not lol. No idea which walls are hollow and which aren't.

Ceiling wifi APs? Nah I'm not gonna go to the extra effort of that, I'm fine with whole house wifi from one router. It's worked acceptably in my current house and if I want something good I need to go with wired. I'll be happy just to get ethernet ports to the bedrooms and lounge. Think it will be quite a challenge. I've seen it recommended not to get an electrician to do it, but... who, then? I'm freaking useless at this.

Electricians are great at running cables. That's what puts bread on their tables.
You might want to get an experienced person to make the connections at each end though.

I agree with others that Cat 6 is the more modern cable, but Cat 5E is so much easier to work with. Either of those will almost certainly do the job for the lifetime of a 1990s house.

And yes, it is a good idea to do this. One thing I would say - where you'd think of running a cable - run two at the same time. It's very little extra effort at the time. Gives you flexibility in the future.

Asssuming it's not timber framed, a 90s house is highly likely to have mainly stud partitions, particularly at first floor and structural block walls and partitions may well be finished with plasterboard on dabs. Internal structural partitions will be solid blockwork not cavity. You may get an adequate wifi signal but partitions they may be finished with foil faced plasterboard which can cause problems with wi-fi.

It might be easier to run a single Cat 6/7 cable to the first floor and place your switch in the top of a cupboard then distribute through the loft. Some might put the switch in the loft but they can get very hot and dusty. As somebody else has suggested run pairs of cables to double ethernet outlets. You could put a patch panel at your switch position to terminate unused cables.

I put my switches in a cab with fans in the loft and it has worked well for over 2 years so far. So, as long as you plan it right, it's a great way to hide the cabinet in the loft and distribute the cables downward to all rooms.

I don't like the idea of putting it in the loft. What I might have to do is take it up to the upstairs under-floor space, then back down to a switch/patch panel cabinet in the corner of the dining room, then back up again to the bedrooms. It's about the only place in the house appropriate for the switch and patch panel. I reckon it'd be too bulky to put in the hallway with the ONT.

In reply to a post by jez9999:

I don't like the idea of putting it in the loft. What I might have to do is take it up to the upstairs under-floor space, then back down to a switch/patch panel cabinet in the corner of the dining room, then back up again to the bedrooms. It's about the only place in the house appropriate for the switch and patch panel. I reckon it'd be too bulky to put in the hallway with the ONT.

when you chase down the walls, make sure you put trunking in and some string as well in case you need to feed another cable or if one gets damaged.

for Copper, cat 6a is more than enough (can do 10gbits for quite a length) that said cat5e is probably enough for most purposes with 2.5gbits and 5gbits on shorter runs.

I'm not gonna be chasing walls that's for sure, lol. It'll be a builder.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Cat5e is way easier to run than Cat6 - but top speed is a limit although, 1Gbps is enough for domestic use and will be for years.

Cat5e will run at 2.5Gps.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Cat5e is way easier to run than Cat6 - but top speed is a limit although, 1Gbps is enough for domestic use and will be for years.

2.5 GbE is becoming the default in many newer desktops, anything for gaming world. Laptops that have USB-C connectors often support 3.1 Gen 2 so can do 10Gbps, so a USB-C to Ethernet adaptor is cheap.

Any install should be Cat6, as in most UK homes you'll get 10Gbps in the future over that; given most people don't have the distances or connectors (switch->patch->structured->patch->device) that you have in enterprise.

Only in some cases.

Short runs yes, 350MHz rated, probably.

The guarantee in only 1Gbps over the full 100m.

I have several 30 and 40m runs - they will NOT support 2.5Gbps

In reply to a post by jez9999:

I'm gonna be moving into a house that was built in the mid- to late-90s and early on what I wanna do is get wired Ethernet installed to the upstairs bedrooms and lounge. What I was thinking of doing was getting a little cabinet built around the Openreach box where I could stick the router on top, wire it to a switch below inside the cabinet, and have that plug in to a bunch of wall sockets via patch cables. Is that a good idea, though? If so what cables are best to use, cat5e or cat6? I've seen elsewhere that sometimes Ethernet over fibre is used but presumably that'd need to have a powered media converter at each end of every connection which sounds like a right ballache.

How tricky is it for a builder to knock holes in walls and do this with a house of this kind of age? Or should a specialist networking company be brought in to do it? I'd like to have the cables run in the walls rather than around skirting board etc. and I'd rather the cables not go outside the house, just seems like they'd have less wear and tear if they're all indoors.

I have wired my 1988-built house with Cat5e with no cable visible internally.
I have two external runs. One from my office to the point where the ONT is mounted and one to the attic. Both are terminated in sockets (krone tool required; it's easy to do. Additional devices are accommodated by unmanaged switches.
Runs from the office to the hall and integral garage were routed under the laminate floor in the hall when the laminate was laid.
The plaster board was fixed by dot and dab, which means that there's a void behind it. The runs in the office go behind the skirting and the plaster board to reach the sockets. The run from the attic to a socket behind the TV in my bedroom also goes behind the plasterboard - I had to drill a hole through the header plank to get into the void.
It's about ten years since I installed the wiring and I've had no problems with it, even outside. Having changed the switches it runs at 2.5Gbps.
There should be no need for a builder to be knocking holes in your walls. A drill will be quite adequate.

I'd say it makes quite a difference if the gap in between internet walls is void. These ones are likely to be stud walls filled with insulation so you can't just drop a wire down through them.

I live in Kent and had ethernet equipment in my loft since the days of BT's dial up internet service. I have not had a problem with heat There are no fans. I have one cable that runs inside a cavity wall.

Well you are quite lucky then. The extremes of temperatures in a loft both cold and hot will tend to shorten the expected life of electronic equipment especially if there is poor design, particularly without adequate heat sinks for any devices dissipating power. Best to avoid if possible or ensure adequate cooling with a fan if needed.

In reply to a post by jez9999:

These ones are likely to be stud walls filled with insulation so you can't just drop a wire down through them.

I would have thought that unusual in 90s when stud partitions were the common for non-structural partitions. More recent timber framed construction uses structural insulation panels for both external walls and internal partitions.

You might come across Paramount partitions which are double sheets of plasterboard filled with an eggcrate structure of thin cardboard. It's fairly easy to knock through the eggcrate fill from above to a limited distance, after drilling the ceiling plate, but otherwise you would need to cut out the plasterboard and either fill the void created or insert noggins either side of the cable run before a making good the plasterboard.

Yeah Cat6 I find very annoying.

Basically me in a rented home, and being lazy, meant I just ran cables across the floor between my living room and bedroom.

So originally the setup was phone socket in living room, Computer equipment and main switch in bedroom, and a second switch in living room, which was not next to the phone socket.

I got two long Cat5e cables, and two long Cat6 cables.

One Cat5e, goes between my two switches. I had a Cat6 going from main switch to the VDSL modem. This meant I had two cables in the hallway on the floor, I put mat over the bit where it crosses the floor, so it was at least only visible on the side. The cables going through side of doorway, but didnt prevent closing doors.

Also a Cat5e was connected between second switch and modem, but mostly not used. This since in the same room just went across edge of floor under window between the two devices.

Ironically I am using the other long Cat6 between my main PC and main switch, the actual distance between them is not even 5m, although the way the cable is routed might be 5m. This cable is mostly still rolled up with only the two ends fed to each device.

After I moved to VM cable from VDSL, I used the VM socket in my bedroom, so this allowed me to remove one of the cables in the hallway, when I got CityFibre installed, I chose to have the ONT in my bedroom, and also close to my main switch, so I still have just one cable between the two rooms and also can use a standard short Cat5e between ONT and firewall appliance.

I agree with the point that gigabit will be totally adequate for the majority of households for years to come. My own network has 2.5gig link between ONT and firewall, and 2.5gig link between firewall and main switch, but all other cabled links are gigabit. Even though my PC has a onboard 2.5gig, it is connected to a gigabit port on switch.

I being a geek myself have of course thought upgrading my LAN, but I just dont see the value, I feel like devices with multiple 2.5 gig ports, especially at least 4 and OpenWRT compatible are just not priced at consumer level of pricing, I do understand some people will spend a few hundred quid on networking kit like its nothing, but I am price sensitive on networking kit. I dont do much network transfer of data across my LAN, and when I do it I am ok with the performance. In terms of internet I am happy with the fact that my LAN is a lower capacity than my WAN, preventing any one device saturating the internet connection.

However if I was wiring ethernet around the home such as under floor and through walls, I think future proofing would win out, and I probably would use Cat6, its one thing to be lazy when just doing it across the floor, but wiring up under floor boards and through walls is the sort of thing you only want to do once and then just forget about it. Probably could use clips or something to keep the cable behaving and remove Cat6 stubbornness.

Cat5e is so flexible and easy to use - and smaller diameter. Cat6/6a is always so rigid, the only advantage is when going in a floor or ceiling void, you can normally straighten it out and then push into the void, aiming for the exit point and it will appear!

I do have some Cat6 and like you I find it annoying in a lot of cases.