Setting up an ethernet network in a house

[gazlee99]

Good afternoon, I would like to know how I would go about putting an ethernet point in various rooms in a house. I would like it so that people could just plug in there computer and have access to the internet. I am thinking that this would be faster and more reliable that wifi? I am right in thinking this. Is using ethernet the only way to achieve this or are there other cables available. I am thinking that I would have the router in a suitable position and then just run lengths of cable of it and try to make the cables as neat as possible around the house. I would like to have sockets in each room. Has anyone done this?

Many thanks

[mgmcc]

You might find using powerline adapters a simpler solution. These plug into the mains electricity sockets and provide an RJ45 ethernet port to which you connect the router and any computers. An adapter can be moved to whichever room you need to have a network port in.

Examples Devolo and Amazon

[gazlee99]

Thank you very much for that. Is that method faster than wifi and equal to or better than ethernet?

[mgmcc]

The Devolo site shows products with speeds of 14 Mbps, 85 Mbps and 200 Mbps.

Forget the 14 Mbps products, but 85 Mbps will be faster than standard 802.11g WiFi (54 Mbps) and 200 Mbps is obviously faster than the standard 100 Mbps ethernet, so you would need a Gigabit network to get the full benefit of 200 Mbps - your router's Network Switch is probably 100 Mbps which will be a limiting factor anyway.

Amazon is also displaying 85 Mbps and 200 Mbps products.

[gazlee99]

Cheers, I will have a look at those

[NRoberts]

I use several of the Devolo 85 Mbps adaptors as part of my network - 1 PC and 1 network drive connected by standard ethernet, 3 PCs connected by these Devolo connectors, including an Inspire Revo acting as a server (!), wireless draft-n for laptops including work ones that need to be connected via VPN from time to time. The powerline solution works very well and is massively easier than wiring up your house!

Now, if only I could work out why I need so many machines...