Nothing is quite as reliable for your home internet as running Ethernet cable between rooms. In some cases, it might be easier to run cable along the outside, rather than inside your home. Here’s how.
This video from Linus Tech Tips covers the basics on how to run cable along the outside of your home. Importantly, you’ll want to make sure you use weather-resistant Ethernet cable on the outside of your home. You’ll also need to take care to seal any holes you make in your house to make sure things like water and bugs can’t get in. This can be a handy method if you need to run a cable from one floor to another, or to a room that’s not as easy to modify from the inside.
Note: In Australia, it is illegal for a home user to install their own permanent data/telephony cabling without a licence. To pull this off, you’ll need to enlist the help of a buddy whose a registered cabler and make sure he strictly follows ACMA’s cabling guidelines.
Optimise your cable runs at home! – Installing an exterior Cat 5e cable [Linus Tech Tips]
Comments
11 responses to “How To Run Ethernet Cables On The Outside Of Your House”
Lol, wow, it’s actually illegal to run an ethernet cable through your own house? What kind of nanny state do we live in?
From memory, the wording of the law says something like “you must be an ACMA registered cabler, or directly supervised by one if you are going to work on telecommunications cabling which may interface with the telephone or carrier network”
Being an ex- ACMA registered cabler, I completely see why.
I read it that way as well…
If all my NW cables terminate to a switch which is joined by off the shelf cat5 to modem… i don’t see how my internal cabling could interfere with carrier network.
That law would make sense, that’s not how I read what was written in the article, as it makes no mention of the outside network. I have a permanent ethernet cable running from my router upstairs, down to a dumb switch downstairs. I ran it myself (and when I say I, I mean I got my father to do it), and it cannot interfere with anything outside my house.
As an ACMA registered cabler I admire this guy’s ingenuity but there is no way I would ever run cable the way he is doing it.
Bugger free WiFi. Get me some ethernet off their house.
While you’re at it install your door locks backwards to make getting inside easier.
Installing your own ethernet runs is illegal? How exactly do they police this? ACMA can go jump off a cliff.
As long as it doesnt interfere with an outside network, you’re fairly safe. Unless something goes wrong, then its a nice easy out for your insurance company and a fine for you
I don’t see how running an Ethernet cable in your own house is illegal? Its not like, I am gonna be running it right next to an electrical wire/cable?
Not everyone uses common sense, and I don’t see how an Ethernet cable can cause interference, when it comes with its own shielding and RF insulation.
I would take my time and make sure, its not running along any other wire, and its completely by itself.
I think the reason why that law exists is because it’s one of those things that everybody thinks that they can do easily, but few have the time or skills (which you apparently do), to do it properly. And the consequences of not doing it properly are things like interference (annoying) and house fires (disastrous).
They can jam it. I setup home security cameras running ethernet cables through the roof myself (hardly very complicated) and turned a job that I was quoted $4k to do into $1k (including cameras, nvr, everything!) Literally a cable that connects from a camera to an NVR and the NVR to my modem. Made sure it was all very neat and tidy in the roof (something the builders clearly weren’t very worried about after finding plenty of rubbish up there I ended up cleaning out) so next time someone is up there they don’t trip over cables etc.