Extending the Network in a Large House

[iihuntyii]

I've run into issues with my home network and have no where to turn to ask....so here we go.

 

I have a fairly large house with Cat5 wiring in only 1 side of the house. My modem/router is set up on the wired side and is connected to the cable box, blu-ray player, tv, and a a/c network extender. On the other side of the house I have a wifi-extender (wifi doesn't reach due to distance and walls) and my computer. I play online games on the computer and have had to use the ac network extender as it has been faster and more reliable than the wifi. The problem is that I get disconnected on my computer 3-5 times a night. They're short disconnects (packet loss?), but when playing online games...lol...this just doesn't work.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My guess is to have an electrician wire the rest of the house, place the router in a central location (to minimize wire length), and have the computer hard wired to the router. Is this the best option? Do I just call local electrians and ask them to run Cat5? Thank you for any direction.

 

 

[millwright]

If you can't do it yourself, I guess you have to hire someone,

It doesn't have to be an electrician.
I'm just a Millwright, and I have fully wires several houses.

Wireless is a convenience, not for performance, it adds lag, and drops out like you say.
I don't even use it on my laptop, even though I have it.
It is not even dependable enough for just watching videos or podcasts online.


You don't have to move everything to a central point.

From what you describe I would run 1 wire from the router, to a convenient place on the side of the house with no wired.
At that spot. I would hook up a switch, then run the new wires for that section of the house, from there.

 

[bill001g]

You could try powerline network devices and see if you can get a connection. These tend to be more stable than wireless but they too are susceptible to interference from devices with motors but there are many fewer random disconnects.

In most places you no not need to be licensed to run ethernet cable...it varies greatly from city to city. Most the time the rates you see are $100/drop but they may have a minimum charge. If you have a attic or a basement that can be accessed it is not real hard to run these yourself. The most difficult are when you need to run them in a multistory house and cannot get into the ceilings. All depend how good you are at fixing holes in the walls, the wire itself is easy to run.

 

[millwright]

If you are feeling handy, all the parts you need are at Home Depot, and Lowes.
I think Home depot has a little better selection.

I haven't checked lately, but in New Hampshire you can be an electrician in your own house, without a licence.
Even for electrical.

 

[iihuntyii]

Thank you all of your responses. I would try to run the wires myself, but I'm told because of my 10' ceilings, it can be troubling for amatures. There's a firebreak (I think that's what they called it) 1/2 way down the wall. Because of this, generally a typical homeowner won't want to tackle it. We'll see... thanks again though!

 

[millwright]

You are Welcome.

 

[iihuntyii]

**Update**

So an electrician came out and basically said I was out of luck. There's just not enought room in the attic to run the wire. However, we were able to find a better solution than we had previously (a/c adapter). You can also run the signal via coax. Since the house is already run with coax, we gave it a try. Stability has improved and download went from 5mbs to 20mbs. The only caveat is if you have sat tv or now. There are specific devices that work with satellite (ala DirectTV) because regular coax adapters will not.

 

[bill001g]

Yes MoCA devices are a valid option if you have the coax wire in place. I suspect there was plenty of room for the wire there was just enough room for the fat electrician