Another computer question.....

bluenose1940 · September 22, 2016

I am just decorating one of the rooms for the first time since we moved in, it is a bedroom but I have it kitted out as a study.

I have recently drilled through the wall to the lounge to feed an Ethernet cable through and was going to hide the cable under the carpet. However, I have today discovered the 'tails' of a telephone point sticking out of the wall by a couple of inches. Obviously at some point there was probably a telephone connection box there. What I don't know is whether these 'tails' are in fact live. if I discover that they are, is it possible to have a second router in the house or, does this cause any problems by conflicting with the one in the lounge?

Where the BT cable comes into the house, I don't have a modern 'Box', mine is a very old fashioned terminal that is about 3inches long by about one and a half inches wide and the top is held in place by a single screw in the centre. It is made of green plastic and was probably fitted in the late 60's. I am sure that some of our 'less young' members will know what I am describing.

I would need to get a telephone engineer in to check to see if the cable is live but, I don't want to do this unless I can be sure that I can run two routers without any problems. If there are unlikely to be any problems, having a second router would be a much better option as it will be located right next to my pc.

I don't think that I could simply move the existing router away from the lounge as the TV/Sky+ box is connected to it.

Thanks for any help that may be forthcoming.

Shahpor · September 22, 2016

No, I am afraid you can't run two routers on the same network.

When you plug the router into the phone line, it will connect to your service provider to gain a connection, which it then distributes to the devices in your house. If you tried plugging a second router in, it would also try and connect, which obviously won't work.

If you can figure out where the phone cable goes, perhaps you can use it to feed the Ethernet cable through?

OldTrout · September 22, 2016

You could use a second router but only if if can be configure to extend the first one. i.e it does not connect to the phone line and the router part just acts as a bridge.

Can the wireless signal from the first router not reach the study?

Shahpor · September 22, 2016

1 minute ago, OldTrout said:

You could use a second router but only if if can be configure to extend the first one. i.e it does not connect to the phone line and the router part just acts as a bridge.

Can the wireless signal from the first router not reach the study?

You are correct John, but you do still need to get a Cat5 cable to it in order to run it this way, which is the problem here. Also, if a cable was run, then a switch would be ideal for any further connection requirements.

I'm sure you know this already, but it might cause a little confusion in this case

OldTrout · September 22, 2016

Very true and if the Cat5 cable can get to the study you would not need the switch unless there was other stuff. Probably muddied the waters unnecessarily. Sorry.

If the phone wire can get to study could a Cat45 get there as well?

normski2 · September 22, 2016

As Piasek said .... the TP powerline adaptors are a useful solution ... work well for me too.

I have the router hard wired to my pc upstairs in the study (but it can be t'other way round)and use TP links to connect the TV's downstairs (my TV's can coonect wirelessly but I find the feed more stable with the TP links). Biggest distance covered is about 30' from PC to lounge TV.

bluenose1940 · September 22, 2016

Hi folks, thanks for all the input.

I am currently using the 'Powerline' system as mentioned by Adam but, I have it in mind that a cabled connection is always better ( am I right in thinking this?)

I can still go ahead with feeding the Ethernet cable through from the lounge but would now ask, what is a Cat45?

Shahpor · September 22, 2016

I have always found that a cabled connection is better than a Powerline one. Powerline systems are generally ok, but I have had some problems in the past with dropped connections.

I ran some Cat5 cables in my place with some switches on the ends. Works well for me.

Oh, and Cat5 (Cat45 was a mistype) is just the technical term for a Ethernet cable.

OldTrout · September 22, 2016

If you need to buy some ethernet cable don't buy Cat5 which anyway may not now be available. Cat5e has replaced Cat5. It is capable of higher performance. Also check price difference between Cat5e and Cat6 which is higher performance still. If there is little in it and/or it is difficult to get into place go for Cat6 and then you will be future proofed. Well five years perhaps.