[ale] Slightly OT: Retro-fitting Gigabit Ethernet in House?

[Steve Litt]

On Fri, 2022-08-12 at 09:52 -0400, Neal Rhodes via Ale wrote:
> Number One Son has bought existing brick house in Austin.
> 
> He now has Google Fiber coming through the outside wall on the first 
> floor.
> 
> His office is on the 2nd floor.   Yes, for his job he can make use of 
> the extra speed. The only provision for ethernet is some coax of dubious 
> caliber.
> 
> He's wondering if any of the powerline adapters really work at gigabit 
> speeds.

I doubt it, especially since some rooms are on the 120 to neutral side, and others
are on the neutral to -120 side.

> 
> I'm thinking the path of least resistance is to:
> - Get Google installer to re-do, and bring Fiber in at the 2nd floor 
> office.
> - Put Wifi router there for the rest of the house.

This sounds like a great idea assuming:

1) Google will do it for a reasonable amount of money

2) You can live with wifi, with all its speed and security compromises


> BUT are there other options short of pulling Cat-6?


There's pulling, and then there's pulling. Back when our three kids lived at home
and my wife had her own office, I put visible network cable on the wall-ceiling
intersections, held up by small nails or U shaped nails. On one run, which would
have been over 100 feet if done neatly, I had an network cable go from my office,
out a little hole in the drywall to the big room, then diagonally across the big
room to the hall to the kids' media center. In the center of the big room, the cable
was draped atop the chandelier. Was it ugly? You bet it was. Did it work perfectly?
Yes it did.

Depending on constructions and locations, doing it the pretty way can be quite
expensive if performed by an electician, or quite risky if done DIY. Remember,
there's all sorts of electrical wire and water piping near the drywall on the other
side of the drywall; puncture one of those and you have some *real* expense.

SteveT