Hi BOAC,

I was reading the earlier posts in this thread. Could you just use the existing rj45 cable your builder put in to pull two new cables through from upstairs to downstairs?

not loose cable
 

Great plan but the cable will normally be fixed in several points.

Best to get on site before the final fix, and lay your own cable......

Appreciate the inputs all, but in order to keep this thread on topic, as you can see:

There was NO RJ45 cable put in

There is no room behind the plasterboard to run any

The existing BT cable was kindly embedded in plaster over much of the drop.

Oh, I missed the 'embedded in plaster' bit when I originally read this thread. What a bugger of a way to wire a house!

We're soon to start renovating our little house by building a second block down the back, connected to the original premises with a hall. Part of our specs. is that the skirting board area in all rooms have a cavity & be accessible so that wiring can be laid at any time.

- yes - one of the reasons we threw him out - and I squeezed £10,000 out of him to pay the next builder!

Apologies BOAC - been on-call for the past few weeks.

I will dig out some figures re. cabling as I feel sure I have them.

No probs, LL34 - Mrs B has taken a turn for the worse medically so I am a little busy there. I will advise any progress. I have a length of RJ45 cable now to try and reduce the length of 'BT' wire in use. Just need the time and focus.

To close this: I managed to grab 1 hour in the attic, and (the OBVIOUS) idea of running most of the distance in RJ45 as opposed to the whole distance in phone wire - doh! :ugh: has now given me an 'up' of around 230k and a 'down' of 7-800k on a 'potential' 1mb link, so I reckon I have cracked it!:ok:

An extension wifi aerial 'borrowed' from number1 son did not, incidentally, improve the wifi speed on the desktop. Laptop still buzzes on wifi, though.

Thanks again to all helpers.

Glad you got a satisfactory solution - sounds pretty decent.

I still haven't managed to find my documentation re. different cable gauges/types and there relative performance despite trawling in the attic.

I am determined to find it - I paid a lot for the course !