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Moving my wired connection

venomphil
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎28-12-2013

Moving my wired connection

Hi plus.net community
Quick question, I live in a rented flat with a phone line comes into the bedroom. I want to move the router into the living room where both my TV setup and PC live. Is it just a case of using a telephone extension cable? Or will there be signal loss in the length of cable?
Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way, should I be using a cat5 cable to wire in a switch in the living room?
Any advice would be much appreciated Smiley
21 REPLIES 21
Strat
Community Veteran
Posts: 31,320
Thanks: 1,609
Fixes: 565
Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: Moving my wired connection

Cat5/Cat5e to a switch in the living room would be the best option of the two.
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picbits
Rising Star
Posts: 3,432
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Registered: ‎18-01-2013

Re: Moving my wired connection

You've not said if you have FTTC or ADSL but best to keep the modem as close to the phone line as possible, run a CAT5e cable to the living room then put a switching hub at the end to give you the extra ports. You can use a cheap £5 10/100Mbs hub if you don't shift lots of data between the devices or a gigabit switch (around £12-£15) if you do lots of copying between devices.
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 16,871
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Moving my wired connection

Hi there, It is possible to use a longer modem cable but using cat5e and a switch or powerline adapters would in my opinion be the best way to go.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
ScottJames
Grafter
Posts: 65
Registered: ‎17-12-2013

Re: Moving my wired connection

Hi Adam
Would the Netgear 200Mbps Mini Powerline Twin Pack Ethernet Adapter work ok with a Fibre connection?
Thanks
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Moving my wired connection

Hi, things should work fine using those, yes. You should get pretty good speeds as well though I don't think you'll see the full 20MB/s.
EDIT: You'd only see that when transferring files as the fibre connection won't go to those speeds (though it should be more than fast enough Smiley )
NedLudd
Grafter
Posts: 1,898
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Registered: ‎20-10-2012

Re: Moving my wired connection

When my FTTC was first installed the guy put a 20 odd foot extension cable to the router & modem (at my request) temporarily located in another room.
Some months later I resited the router & modem to the same place as the incoming line and master socket!
Guess what? Not a ha'peth of difference to the speed!
That seems to dispel the myth that long telephone cables are going to drop the speed!
Geoff,
York.
DaveyH
Champion
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Registered: ‎15-11-2012

Re: Moving my wired connection

Quote from: NedLudd

That seems to dispel the myth that long telephone cables are going to drop the speed!

Not really sure one example of it making no difference, is really dispelling it as a myth.
NedLudd
Grafter
Posts: 1,898
Thanks: 8
Registered: ‎20-10-2012

Re: Moving my wired connection

But, how many people have the experience of both?
None of the doubters here are quoting personal experience are they!  Cheesy
Geoff,
York.
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Moving my wired connection

I believe the extension cable used by the FTTC engineers is a much higher quality than a standard phone extension cable - those are a nightmare, take it from someone who's investigated a lot of broadband faults over the years. They're two very different animals indeed.
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
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Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Moving my wired connection

Quote from: NedLudd
When my FTTC was first installed the guy put a 20 odd foot extension cable to the router & modem (at my request) temporarily located in another room.
Some months later I resited the router & modem to the same place as the incoming line and master socket!
Guess what? Not a ha'peth of difference to the speed!
That seems to dispel the myth that long telephone cables are going to drop the speed!

There is a difference. The cable the engineer installed will be good quality twisted pair and the majority of telephone extension cables are poor quality flat cables. Also the data extension is taken from the back of the filtered socket on two special terminals to be used for data only.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
NedLudd
Grafter
Posts: 1,898
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Registered: ‎20-10-2012

Re: Moving my wired connection

Until you guys produce examples then it's just hearsay|!
Geoff,
York.
pwatson
Rising Star
Posts: 2,470
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Registered: ‎26-11-2012

Re: Moving my wired connection

It's not rocket science - like for like, adding an extra 20m of cable on to a line that may be 2000m long (in the case of ADSL) or 300m to the cabinet (FTTC) will have negligible effect.  However, a house is likely to have more sources of interference present so it's important that twisted pair cable is used for the extension to minimise the effect.
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Moving my wired connection

We've had a considerable number of people posting on here over the years complaining about speeds etc where it turned out that they were using a crappy extension lead just intended for phones.
Why do you think the first thing Plusnet (and the forum regulars) ask people to do is to post the stats when connected directly to the test socket? That rules out extensions and internal wiring.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Moving my wired connection

@NedLudd - With all due respect, I'm telling you that in the years I worked on faults I talked directly to end users whose faults were resolved by removing phone extension cables. This happened on more than one occasion. I don't have times, dates and usernames for you because I simply can't remember but I would appreciate being taken at my word.
Thanks.