best way to hide network cables..

[matty-hodgson]

i've been having a lot of problems with the wireless on the router recently, constantly cutting out wireless, pretty awful ping times (especially with the xbox on) so i decided to just wire up the PC..

so.. what would be the best way to disguise the cable.. and does anyone have any tips on how to get it through a door and still be able to close the door.

[mrt9888]

You can get some flat ethernet cables from scan that can go under the carpet or you can hide it with trunking along the skirting boards.

[dirky]

Have you considered home plugs? I use the 200mbit netgear ones and am pretty happy with them. get around 4-5mb/s between my two machines

[jackvdbuk]

i have my cable from my room to downstairs just going underneath my door held down to the floor with a bit of duct tape

not the best or clean way but its hidden by my desk heh

[Terbinator]

Have you considered home plugs? I use the 200mbit netgear ones and am pretty happy with them. get around 4-5mb/s between my two machines

Is that MBytes or Mbits ? Also how easy are they to set up ?

[benjus]

It all depends how professional a job you want to do, really... ideally you wouldn't go through a door at all, but through the wall. Failing that, chisling out a channel in the door frame so that the cable fits flush should work. Fill around it with some caulk & paint if necessary, and it'll me almost invisible. If you want to go underneath the door, if you have a carpet strip or similar you can probably just unscrew it and run the cable underneath.

If you have laminate or floating wood flooring, putting the cable in the expansion gap is a good way to hide it (you'll need to lift the beading to do this).

I'm not a huge fan of trunking, as this can (IMHO) end up looking less discrete than a well-positioned bare cable. Although it's probably a good idea if you have several cables to run.

[scaryjim]

Another vote for under the carpet here

With the door, first try sliding the cable under the door then pull it tight into doorframe at the bottom (on whichever side is appropriate). You'll often find that there's enough clearance that a CAT5 cable in the corner of the frame won't cause any problems. If it does cause the door to stick, try filing off a few mm at the bottom of the door frame (essentially cutting a narrow channel *under* the frame) and keep cutting deeper until the cable pulls into the gap and free of the door.

Of course, the better way is to run all your cabling under the floorboards, but that would require pulling up the carpets and floor first, which sounds like more work that you're planning on doing

[jim]

I bought flat ribbon cat5 cable, really easy to just drop under the edges of the carpet

[TS || Slick]

Have to agree with benjus tbh, but it does depend on the situation, at the moment i live in a stone building and so drilling holes through walls is a no-no especially as its listed. Ive used trunking a lot in the past to hide all sorts of cable and have been pleased with the results you can get some nice flat stuff from homebase and depending on the length shouldnt look bad. At the end of the day out of sight is out of mind, if you run a bare cable or trunking at waist height around the house your gonna see if everyday but if its hidden right you'll completely forget its there.

As for getting through the doors, usually a small hole next to the bottom corner where it meets the skirting board is a good idea, failing that by any means possible as long as YOUR happy with it.

[mrt9888]

You can also get trunking that looks like beading, I think you can get it from Toolstation or Screwfix. Its the one someone invented that came on Dragons Den.

[dirky]

Is that MBytes or Mbits ? Also how easy are they to set up ?

mbytes, and very easy, pretty much plug and play. speeds will depend on range and age of wiring etc. but if you can borrow a pair its well worth testing.

[TS || Slick]

I would borrow a pair before you buy any if you can, i remember reading up on these years ago and (obvious when you think about it) the two have to be on the same rung of the houses electrical cabling and so not all houses, more so old ones, have got two separate rungs one for upstairs/downstairs or even for different parts of the house, so they may not work at all.

[benjus]

I would borrow a pair before you buy any if you can, i remember reading up on these years ago and (obvious when you think about it) the two have to be on the same rung of the houses electrical cabling and so not all houses, more so old ones, have got two separate rungs one for upstairs/downstairs or even for different parts of the house, so they may not work at all.

I don't think that's the case - not for all models anyway. They DO both need to be on the same PHASE, but you're unlikely to have a multiphase supply to your home anyway. While some models might require them to be on the same ring I don't think this is the case in general. After all, the rings all meet up at the consumer unit anyway.

Still a good idea to borrow a pair and test, though.

[killie99]

I built a pair of these (powerline thingies) for a project when I was a student in 1984, they ran at 150 baud

[Gr44]

Personally, under the floor/channel out walls etc... but not really a good option if you've recently decorated!!

The homeplugs are very good for web surfing etc, wouldn't bother if you play games or anything that needs low latency. Also, in my house they tend to stop working when the kettle/microwave etc is on (though I think that's down to a bad earth).

Also, in my house we have differant rings and they operate fine on them, not the fastest but they do work... can transfer files around 500KB/s so it's plenty for what we use them for!

[gagaga]

Ikea sell some plastic channels (they use them to hide cables going to plasmas etc). You can pin these right at the bottom of the skirting (or top is wide enough) and they open down the middle. they are just about the width of a cable (about 10mm across). Not perfect, but they look pretty discreet and certainly better than bare cable pinned to the wall / skirting.