Extend Wifi

[philiporchard]

Hi,

We are putting a Glide Pod garden office at the end of our garden and they are anticipating that I will provide a data connection cable.

Our garden is 150 foot long.

I've read that ethernet cables aren't ideal for distances over 100m long.
I'm with Virgin Media. Possibly I need to give them a ring?

If anyone has experience of doing this, then would be interested to hear your recommendations.

Our current speeds are:
180.5: Mbps download
11.3: Mbps upload

Thanks!

 

[dee]

Dont know this model but i set up ethernet over mains for a mate and it works really well.

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7367131

I guess only thing you'd need to check is that the mains is on same phase,. If power is from house you'd probably be fine.

Cant see ethernet being a problem though if you use decent cat6 ? It'll run a couple hundred meters normally.

 

[timter51]

I've used these very succesfully over distances up to 1km:

http://www.networkwebcams.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1767

This was for an IP camera system installation, however they might be fine for just data as well.

 

[Skinner]

Have you considered going fibre optic ?

You can run those cables for crazy lengths, and use a ether-fibre converter ?

Cat 6 is solid for 100m (330ft) which is well over double the 150ft your talking, so should be fine, but you could fibre it to be sure.

 

[Edwin]

Cat 7 cable is higher spec than Cat 6. In theory it should have absolutely no difficulty bridging that gap with an Ethernet connection.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_11801#CAT7

Something like this, perhaps?
https://www.cables2u.co.uk/cat7-outdoor-ethernet-netork-cable-weatherproof-100m-reel-p-1451.html

Assuming you can get the cable to work, it should provide a higher speed and more reliable connection than any other connectivity option.

 

[Edwin]

This product seems to get solid reviews. It’s Cat 5e but that spec is also good for up to 100m in theory. Don’t know if it can be purchased in the UK - you may need to find a reseller middleman.
https://dl.ubnt.com/datasheets/toughcable/TOUGHCable_Datasheet.pdf

 

[Edwin]

Finally, if you have line of sight between house and pod, you could look into a wifi point-to-point option, eg something like the products detailed here...
https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/feat...ew-gen2-ubiquiti-access-points-and-ptp-links/

 

[dee]

One other thing worth mentioning if your running cables outside along a fence or something. If its exposed..... get armoured cable. It will get chewed by rats / the neighbours at some point.

 

[Edwin]

One other thing worth mentioning if your running cables outside along a fence or something. If its exposed..... get armoured cable. It will get chewed by rats / the neighbours at some point.

That, or put it inside some kind of reinforced tube. Especially if you're planning on burying it. Depends how much you want to trade off installation hassle/tidiness/etc. Either way, it will be safer to buy cable designed for use outdoors, even if it is encased in something else (to guard against leaks, for instance)

 

[philiporchard]

Wonderful. Thanks for all the useful advice.

 

[timter51]

Wonderful. Thanks for all the useful advice.

Keep us posted on the Glide Pod, we've recently been looking at garden office options and they popped up

 

[bonusmedia]

I got Virgin to run about that length from the street, they cut a line in the turf, peeled it back and buried a cable running through this sort of stuff:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00843KXYS/?tag=acorn06-21 - except theirs was green

It had to cross some tarmac too, watch out for that, or avoid if you can - they use 'cold lay' tarmac which doesn't look great or last very long

 

[monaghan]

If you want to run your business from the new office, then I'd certainly look at a cabled system rather than rely on wifi, it's far too unreliable in my opinion for that sort of distance. Guessing you're going to need power out there as well, so simple ducting or overhead cable run should be able to do the trick. Many CCTV systems use cat5/6 these days instead of coax so external grade ethernet cable seem to be a lot easier to find.

I'd also suggest running at least 2 cables as you're bound to want to do something else later or if you get a failure, there'll be a redundant cable available.

 

[Admin]

Cable it. That length is no trouble for cat 6 cable nevemind cat 7. Avoid flat cable... that can be a nightmare to crimp the rj45 connector. Cat 6 is good for more than twice the length you need.

 

[philiporchard]

BTW, I'm thinking of ordering this:

https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-...nal-cat6-utp-solid-cable-price-per-metre.html

Looks like it fits in with the recommendations - including not able to be chewed by the neighbours

 

[dee]

BTW, I'm thinking of ordering this:

https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-...nal-cat6-utp-solid-cable-price-per-metre.html

Looks like it fits in with the recommendations - including not able to be chewed by the neighbours

That should probably do it. Are you getting them to terminate ? I would...

https://planetechusa.com/blog/ether...t3-vs-cat5e-vs-cat6-vs-cat6a-vs-cat7-vs-cat8/

Only other thing to watch that can catch you out is bend radius. The further up the scale you go the shallower the bend capability spec. You should be fine though as long as you dont right angle round walls and take it gently.

 

[philiporchard]

Not sure what you mean by terminate - sorry!

I was assuming I'd just join this into the wire that Virgin ran into our house somehow?

If you - or anyone - can clearly explain how I connect this Cat 6 cable to our internet in our house that would be great!

Currently we split the Virgin cable and take one to the Virgin TV box and the other to the Virgin Media Hub.

Possibly I buy a splitter that splits it 3 ways?

 

[philiporchard]

Ah - I guess you mean that I could ask them to put the connectors on the end of the wire before they post it.

That sounds like a good idea!

 

[dee]

Probably better just getting a ethernet switch in the house and putting ethernet plugs on the cable . So effectively post your virgin internet box if that makes sense ?

 

[dee]

Ah - I guess you mean that I could ask them to put the connectors on the end of the wire before they post it.

That sounds like a good idea!

Sorry...yes. Exactly. That then goes into a switch or spare output on your router and off too the pod.