30m cat6 Ethernet cable, who's done it?

I put in a temporary cable running from the front of the house through to the outside and all the way around to the back of the house into the living room. I say temporary, it was about 14 years ago and worked fine so left it and still going strong today. Don't recall what cable was used without going and checking it but deffinatley wasn't designed for outdoor use.
It's probably about 20m in length. It means I have wired connections to every fixed device which I much prefer. So I guess yes, it can be done. But like others have said maybe best around the house and not over. And of course there are other options as mentioned.....

Does it have to go over, not round? It's easier to fix to a wall than roof tiles, be sure to use an outdoor grade cable. I'd buy the cable myself and put heads on as it means smaller holes in the walls.

Do you use your fireplace(assuming you have one)? Cables up a chimney can get you into the loft space?

If you’re WFH longer term, maybe bite the bullet and chase cable(s) into the walls?

I had 17 network ports installed around the house (with Cat6 cable) when we had a rewire done in 2017 and it’s definitely been a good decision. All goes back to the cupboard under the stairs.

Certainly a better call thanthe Tv aerial points I had put in at the same time, seeing as everything is on demand these days!

I would suggest doing it properly, and buy cat5e wall plates and a reel of solid core copper cat5e (or higher) cable and either chase it up the wall if you plan on redecorating soon, so you can run it under the floorboards, or else hide it behind the skirting board - you can buy a hollow skirting board cover to nail over the existing, or use a router table to cut a slot in the back of new skirting before fitting.

I was able to put a 4 port wall plate in the side of my chimney, next to my router and route the cables to the other side of the chimney and up the chimney surround where the pipes from the back boiler had gone which meant I didn't even need to redecorate. (edited)

I wouldn’t recommend going over the roof. Over time it will rub on your ridge tile and generate a fault.

If going hardwired go via the loft and exit at the soffit or into the cavity behind the plaster board.

It’s most likely better to install a decent mesh that has a wireless back haul.

Recently had to run a network cable for an IP camera so, if running cable externally, I'd recommended getting Outdoor network cable with copper strands and not the cheaper Copper Clad Aluminium (CCA). (edited)

Thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated!

As much as I like these idea's I'm limited in what I can do until I buy the house. Currently renting with the plan to buy it so I can't do too much to it even though I can't see the landlord saying no to some of these idea's but I'd rather not spend too much until the place is mine.

My virgin line starts at the front and wraps around the house to the back doors so It could be worth tacking alone side that line but in reverse and up to the office window. That's if the ethernet cable could cause damage to the roof.

Power line it mate. Don't run a cable around your skirting and up the walls. Power lines are great. You can connect a switch if you need multiple devices.

mesh wifi or powerline

I have done it with a BT cable to connect phone line at front door to modem in the attic as we want fastest speeds / lowest ping for online gaming. Wound it up around the staircase and up walls. All works fine.

I just got cheap cable from eBay for about 2 quid.. just checked... Was only 10m....if you get a good ethernet cable I am sure you will be fine. (edited)

Bossworld25/03/2022 15:18

Certainly a better call thanthe Tv aerial points I had put in at the same …Certainly a better call thanthe Tv aerial points I had put in at the same time, seeing as everything is on demand these days!Read lessRead more

HDhomerun could of sent it around the house!

Not quite 30m but I have 15m going through the ceiling from the living room into bedrooms upstairs.

Could you not run the cabling under the floor board?

I've done exactly this from house to shed about 30m run, through the corner of the window where the phone line comes in and tacked to the exisiting phone line on the facia and run along the ground into the shed, got full speed.

Cisco06060625/03/2022 15:13

mesh wifi or powerline

Seconded. You'll get good wifi throughout the house.

Powerline is what I'd do and just wire it out the powerline adaptor. Served me fine when I was wfh

10 or more years ago I chanced across a 15m roll of Ethernet cable in the Pound shop for... you've guessed it.

It connects the Virgin Media router in a edge of house awkward spot to the proper Asus router centre of house. It's routed round outdoor walls despite being indoor cable. Reading this thread, I just now flipped my phone to the routers 5Ghz channel and did a speed test. 11ms ping, and for speed, 100 Mbps down, which is exactly what my package allows.

Cannot think of any possible need for faster. For £1 outlay happy as Larry.

Yes I’ve done something similar, bought outdoor cable and ran it myself. Have 7 cctv cameras.

Lots of options to think about.

Throwing a cable over your roof will probably work for a time but it sounds somewhat awkward and dangerous. However, it might be just as easy to lift a few floorboards/drill a few holes in your walls/floors or even just use cable clips and route a cable to your room? Also have you considered powerlines, where the network/internet is broadcast through your electrical wiring? They aren't perfect but give a quasi-wired internet connection. These are literally just units you plug into your electrical sockets, they are relatively inexpensive and can provide a reasonable connection but some models can be a little temperamental and they are reliant on your electrical wiring not being miles long or terrible quality.

For those who want a more permanent setup I singlehandedly wired my whole house for CAT6 cables, it was more work than I anticipated but you don't have to do everything to the same degree as what I did below.

1. Each living area (bedrooms/office/lounge) have an ethernet network wall outlet installed into a wall backbox (same as what your electrical sockets use).

2. I used CAT6 cable from a bulk 100m reel installed in a channels (chiselled out from the the walls with plastic conduits before being plastered in) and then threaded under lifted floorboards navigating joists which I drilled holes through.

3. Each room's cable(s) then collectively terminate in an under-stairs cupboards where each CAT6 cable is physically fixed to a wall patch panel. This patch panel then allows for a hook-up into a network switch via smaller patch cables

4. From that point you can plug your internet router into any of the rooms outlets and the internet would be shared across the whole network or you could plug your internet router directly into the switch in the under-stairs cupboard for the same effect.


This is what the termination point looks like. The plastic conduit is where all the CAT6 cables are routed into the cupboard (for all the rooms these cables are flush and plastered into the wall but with the cupboard didn't think it was worth burying 16 cables in the wall hence the plastic conduit.

Optional elements of this installation are as follows:

You don't need a patch panel, you can fit an ethernet connectors on the ends of raw CAT6 cables or buy a set length with ethernet connectors. The patch panel just gives a unmoving end with which to fix your wall installed cables (much like your electrical consumer unit).

You don't need wall outlets. You could just have both ends of your cable with ethernet connectors and just plug them directly in, but be aware that they are unfixed and could be theoretically pulled out of your walls. Also they aren't as tidy coming out of the floor/walls, but really depends on how much time you want to put into it.

Figured I'd throw lots of ideas down for you and others.