Need Some Help

[54fighting]

I have a house and a detached garage. There is a room above the garage. The coax cable and phone line comes in at the garage and runs though about 60' of conduit to the house. There are two empty conduits that run between the house and the garage. The house and the room above the garage are wired with coax and Cat 5 cable, but the cables in the house and this room are not connected to one another. TV comes in via directv, so the coax cable is not being used.

I currently have dsl in the house. I'm tired of the slow speeds and poor customer service. So, I thought I would get internet through the cable company. I want internet service in both the house and the room above the garage.

Although I would like to use the empty conduit to run lines, there are no draw strings and I am not convinced that I will be able to run the line the empty conduit (I've tried attaching a vacuum to one end of the conduit to suck some fishing line through and I am getting no suction at the other end of the conduit). I would prefer not to have to trench for a new line.

I know I can't have two modems on the same line, so I'm wondering if it is possible to run the cable to a modem in the room above the garage and then run a cable from the modem and connect to the cable that runs to the house. Although I don't understand the mechanics, I'm assuming that this is not possible, and that I can only run ethernet cable out of the modem and, even if were possible to use the coax between the house and the garage, I'm left with coax in the house and no way to connect the computers to the coax.

Aside from running new lines (or using the cable that runs from the garage to the house as a drawstring to run new lines), can you think of any solution?

[rjfvillarosa]

Do you know an electrician that could loan you a Fish tape?

Klein Tools Depthfinder 65 ft. Steel Fish Tape - 56002 at The Home Depot

[David M]

Here is the trick....you let the existing wire or cable be the fish tape. I have done this for fishing lines through boat masts and through bulkheads of boats.


Get yourself some nylon line, 1/4 inch is good. Don't use string because you may break it if you have to pull hard. Disconnect an existing cable at the house or garage and then tie the nylon line with a Sailor's gripping hitch to the disconnected cable. Don't bend the coax sharply. From the other end of the same cable, pull the cable out from the conduit. After you pull it all the way through, when you see the knot you just tied, tie on the new cable. Then on the other side, use the nylon line to pull both cables through the conduit. One trick is to wind some electrical tape over the knot so it is less likely to snag on anything.

[glc]

One modem, one router, in the same location. Ethernet from the router to the computers. If you have multiple computers in the house, you only have to run one Ethernet cable from the garage, you can connect it and the computers all to an Ethernet switch.

You could also do it the other way - modem and router in the house. Either way, all you have to do is get one CAT 5 run between the house and garage.

[Planefreak]

Wouldn't this be a good application of Wireless N? A router and a PCI card should do it, but 60 feet might be pushing it. I think that's about the maximum distance of mine

[glc]

Wired, if at all possible, is always better than wireless.

[strollin]

The theoretical max indoor distance for 80211.n is 230 ft, outdoor max is 820 ft. What distance you can get in actual use depends on how many walls there are between, construction materials, other possible interference, etc...

[Planefreak]

I agree wired is better, and cheaper, but I would keep the option on the table

[David M]

Originally Posted by strollin The theoretical max indoor distance for 80211.n is 230 ft, outdoor max is 820 ft. What distance you can get in actual use depends on how many walls there are between, construction materials, other possible interference, etc...

Doesn't the distance vary with the antenna gain and the power? The FCC allows both to vary but with limits for both depending on the other and whether it is g or n.