Broadband installation advice please

Broadband installation advice please

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Discussion

Hustle_

Original Poster:

25,205 posts

167 months

Monday 15th July
quotequote all
Moving in on Thursday and I’ll need to arrange internet pretty sharpish.

The house currently has BT internet with the router in the dining room. It’s fed by an Ethernet socket in the wall.

Basically I want good internet and I want the router in a good spot. Same location as existing would be great. However I’m guessing that the existing Ethernet cables / sockets are no good for 2024 internet.

A number of providers offer FTTP at my address so I’m wondering if there is any reason to choose one provider over the other when it comes to routing the cable. For example I know Virgin Media’s coaxial cables are pretty inflexible. Current location wouldn’t work because the big cumbersome wire would have to navigate a fireplace etc.

Alternative might be to put it in the front bedroom which will be my office but I’d probably get rubbish coverage in the kitchen in the rear extension.

Yes I am overthinking this.


Actual

1,035 posts

113 months

Monday 15th July
quotequote all
Even an old Ethernet cable will probably be fast enough and much better than nothing.

The objective is to have the Wi-Fi routers and any Ethernet switches using the fastest connection possible but individual computers and devices many not benefit from having superfast speeds. For example streaming 4K TV may only need 25 Mbps and so getting the full fibre 500 Mbps to that device has no benefit.

There may be a benefit if the backbone of the home network has better cabling but you may not notice any difference.

A computer that does lots of bulk file transfers to another computer on the same network would need the fastest connection possible.

Compared to Wi-Fi any physical cables tend to be reliable and consistent.

onomatopoeia

3,494 posts

224 months

Wednesday 17th July
quotequote all
Hustle_ said:
However I’m guessing that the existing Ethernet cables / sockets are no good for 2024 internet.
cat5e cable is good for gigabit in the lengths found in domestic settings. Pretty unlikely you'll need to replace it, assuming it is correctly installed.

119

9,573 posts

43 months

Wednesday 17th July
quotequote all
5e is good enough for up to 2.5gb.