Running an Ethernet from downstairs to room upstairs

chewed · 24-09-2023 1:41pm #1

So, I'm looking to run a 10m Ethernet cable from my router in the sitting room directly above in the room upstairs. I have a new NAS drive and would rather it be in the office room. I could probably get it up through the ceiling, but was thinking about the old TV cable that's wired around the house. Could that possibly be used to run the cable upstairs ? I'm not sure where those old TV cables go? To the attic?

Static M.e. · 25-09-2023 8:28am

Yes, they should go the attic and I would certainly give it a try. The easiest (?) method would be go up into the attic directly above the sitting room and see if you can find where the cable comes out. Then tie some strong twine around to end of the cable, with additional support of tape, before pulling it up from the attic side. If everything goes really well, you should end up with a length of twine from the attic to the sitting room. Then you reverse the process with some ethernet cable.

There is a lot of luck needed and patience, as the cable can get stuck going up and coming back down. I had fun doing the exact same thing during the lockdown. I think it took me a good few hours just to get the cable run in.

chewed · 25-09-2023 12:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121153379#Comment_121153379

OK thanks. The problem is it's impossible to get into the attic space in my house. The clever plumber decided to put the water tank directly over the access to the attic when the house was built!

dam099 · 25-09-2023 1:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121154474#Comment_121154474

Probably easier to build a new access and seal over the old blocked one.

chewed · 25-09-2023 4:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121154519#Comment_121154519

Yes, I was told that by a plumber before. It's on my LONG list of jobs to do in the house. :-)

dam099 · 25-09-2023 4:33pm

If you cant use the old tv coax cable to pull ethernet an alternative might be possible to use the coax for networking using MoCa Ethernet Adaptors, assuming the two points you need to use are connected. Not as cheap as ethernet but I understand it gives much better real world speeds vs powerline options (albeit more expensive than that too).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/moca-adapter/s?k=moca+adapter

chewed · 26-09-2023 1:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121155587#Comment_121155587

Thanks. That looks interesting. I wonder is there a quick/easy way to check if the 2 points (sitting room and upstairs room) are connected?

MarkR · 26-09-2023 2:01pm

Those fritzboxes have a good mesh system and are often sold cheap second-hand. If it's just going right upstairs, you should be able to get a good wireless signal between them.

tphase · 26-09-2023 2:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121158991#Comment_121158991

there is if you have a multimeter 😁 but it's unlikely they're connected; TV points are generally cabled back to a point in the attic.

If you have a TV socket in the upstairs room and it's directly above the one in the sitting room, you might be lucky and find they share a conduit in which case I'd try replacing the coax with ethernet cable. I'd go with Cat 5e as it's more flexible that Cat 6

chewed · 26-09-2023 2:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121159124#Comment_121159124

Yeah, I have one already in the room and it's really good. But I wanted to have my NAS drive up here and have it wired. Though I could wire it up to the Mesh as well.

chewed · 26-09-2023 2:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121159224#Comment_121159224

Cheers! Yes, the TV point upstairs is the opposite side of the house to the one downstairs. So, as you say, they probably both just go to a point in the attic.

Glaceon · 26-09-2023 2:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121159224#Comment_121159224

I did exactly this in the last place I lived in. Shorted the ends on one side of the cable and used a multimeter on the other end. I found they were all joined together, found a very flimsy join inside a piece of conduit after a while.

MarkR · 26-09-2023 3:08pm

Now i'm staring at a useless tv point in my home office... Project for another day. :-D

tphase · 26-09-2023 3:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121159415#Comment_121159415

Could use both conduits - up from the sitting room, across the attic and down to the office. That would require attic access of course 😕

ModelWhy · 08-10-2023 10:22pm

Interesting thread, thanks!

Anyone know WHERE I can get one of those MoCA adapter things?

Amazon doesn't seem to ship them to Ireland anymore.

Or is there any easy way to replace the coax with Ethernet at all? House is old with mostly solid walls. Thanks

Running an Ethernet from downstairs to room upstairs

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