How to install a ethernet cable through the wall?

[Fernando1]

Hello,
I have my internet modem and router in the garage since the NBN box is there as well.
I would like to send an Ethernet cable from the garage all the way to the living room to be able to connect in a more reliable way since the Wi-Fi isn't most times due to the long distance between the garage and the living room.
I've tried Wi-Fi extenders but is just not good enough.
I'm wondering what's the best way would be to send the cable from the garage to the living.
I was thinking maybe there's an option to move the cable through the ceiling?
Thanks in advance, and please feel free to explain as much as possible of the procedure since I'm not very experienced on DIY tasks.

[JacobZ]

Hi @Fernando1,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, and thank you for your question.

Generally speaking, cables will be run through the ceiling cavity of your home. Without seeing your place, this will likely be the solution. 

It is usually best to leave cabling of any kind to the professionals, as there are risks involved with entering your ceiling cavity due to the electrical wiring that runs through it.

Allow me to tag @R4addZ, who is qualified in this kind of work, for his recommendations.

Jacob

[AlanM52]

Hello @Fernando1,

This job requires a range of DIY skills starting with a good concept of how a residential home is constructed.

A range of equipment and tools is also required starting with a ladder through to a Krone punch down tool.

You will need to get someone in to do the job.

Have a look in the local newspapers for a person/company offering antenna and home networking installations.

One comes to mind and is well known - Jim's Antennas.

Note: I have no affiliation with that company.

Cheers

[R4addZ]

Hi @Fernando1 & @JacobZ 

First I need to correct Jacob. It is illegal to run any cables, finished or not, through a cavity and for the purpose of the regulations in Australia, the Ceiling is considered to be a cavity unless you are a registered cabler. Also the regulations also state that "hidden or concealed cabling may not terminate on a plug where accessible by anyone other than a registered cabler" and running through walls or roof space would be concealed Note, I may not have the exact wording there but that is essentially what they say.

Now for fernando, I am not the cabling police but I am a registered cabler so I am obliged to tell you that you aren't allowed to do this yourself. However I am a realist so if you do, turn off all the power at the fuse box before going into the roof space (remember what happened during the foil insulation debacle). Another note, plastic ducting is not considered to be concealing

[JacobZ]

Apologies @Fernando1 and @R4addZ, I was unaware that it was illegal to run any cabling at all.

Thank you for clarifying that.

Jacob

[R4addZ]

@Jacob 

It's not that you can't run any cabling at all, you can for example put some ducting round a room to neatly relocate the service to the other side of the room, you just aren't allowed to penetrate any cavity and the roof space is considered a cavity. This is for many reasons 1st and foremost safety and also for segregation. One trick I use for segregation where I don't want to or can't crawl through is to thread the cable through flexi conduit and pull the whole lot in as this meets segregation requirements.

[PeterEllis49]

Hi Jacob

I have joined this discussion because of some questions I have regarding communications cabling.  These have arisen as a result of my consideration of cabling requirements for upgrading my nbn connection from FTTN (ie copper cabling to the premises) to FTTP (ie fibre cabling to the premises).  The nbn are offering free installation of fibre and connection boxes.  However the nbn rules regarding their scope of work are somewhat vague and restricted, and often require installation work which is the responsibility of the site owner to fill the gap.  This will be a growing requirement of home owners as the upgrade to FTTN becomes more prevalent.

Depending on the building layout this could include installation of white communication conduit for fibre within the home and/or installation of Cat6(?) Ethernet cable from the nbn equipment to the customer’s Wi-Fi router in a remote part of their house (as replacement of copper phone cable currently in place in the home for FTTN installations and often installed by the DIY home owner).  This is similar to the requirement of Fernando1 who raised the original question.    

Whilst not doubting input from AlanM52 and R4addZ, I am interested in getting more detail and clarity with respect to the regulated requirements for communications cable installation in domestic premises.  And I suspect many other DIYers will also as the upgrade to fibre accelerates.

It would be great if R4addZ (or other experts) could provide links to the relevant Regulatory documents he is quoting.  Maybe he could also provide more focussed and practical detail of those aspects of these Regulations which are applicable to the installation of conduit to carry fibre (to be pulled by nbn), and to the running of Ethernet cable to customer’s routers.

[EricL]

Hello @PeterEllis49 

Let me tag @R4addZ to make them aware of your query. I had a quick look at the regulated requirements for communications cable installation in domestic premises. It is quite extensive and covers a lot of ground. In the interest of health and safety it would be best to engage the services of a cabler so that your cables are installed correctly and in accordance with the current rules and regulations. 

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1, @CSParnell, @MikeTNZ and @TedBear for their opinions on this topic. 

Eric

[Dave-1]

Good Afternoon @PeterEllis49 

As far as I know, there is nothing to stop me running a network cable internally within my residence. I have not come across the ruling that @R4addZ has mentioned. Tho I do admit I dont practice installs in other peoples places. I am a sparky and a former telstra technician just to clarify.

Running the network cable in ducting is nice and will give it a form of mechanical protection but again, not needed.

Running the cable through metal requires gromets for protection from cutting/slicing of the cable.

I have run Network cables extensivly around my house, and still want more I ran dual cables to my lounge and dual to my back room, dual to the garage and a single to one of my spare rooms. I also left enough of a loom in the cables to shift them if needed as I had my NBN box installed in my linen cupboard andmay have removed it (In the end I renovated it) 

To save termination of cabling, you can buy preterminated network cables. They will be harder to pull up through walls ect but not totally impossible. Mark the cables either end to distinguish them if you run more then one.

You cannot/should not touch powercables.

The NBN point outside your house is the resonibility of the telco and you have no need and should never touch it.

The NBN terminal within your house you need access to to reseet if needed. I considered a few places but mainly wanted it out of eyesite and good wirless range.

You wont be terminating cables, go the pre terminated ones. Be aware of running cables within walls and ceiling space as power cable scould be live. @R4addZ recomendation to turn off the power to the house whilein the ceiling is a very good one. I have bad stories of what can happen.

Have a look around youtube for running cables in walls and if you have questions come back and ask. The yellow tongue cable feeder that bunnings sells is a handy thing. Poly Eiger 4mm 3.6m Yellow Poly Cable Feeder 

Dave

[R4addZ]

Hi @PeterEllis49  And @Dave-1 

IF you are having trouble sleeping, feel free to read the regulations AS/CA S009:2020 Installation requirements for Customer Cabling (Wiring Rules) they can be found here....

https://www.austelco.org.au/publication/s009-2020/

These govern what you can do but it is more a case of how it should be done.

As for who can do the work, this is govened by the Cabling Provider rules. These are administered by the ACMA and instead of linking you to the rules, I will link you to a page that then links to the rules but also to an explanatory document which may be easier to read.....

https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2025L00386/latest/downloadshttps://www.austelco.org.au/publication/s...

now just a few points here and I do not mean to offend  so bear with me. Electricians, unless they do a communications ticket are not registered cablers for the purpose of the cabling rules and people who work for Telstra (or any other carrier for that matter) are not required to be registered cablers unless they are working beyond the network boundary point (this can be inside the customers premises) by virtue of the fact that they are permitted by the carrier to work on their network.

I have been a registered cabler for about 35 years (I did the same job in the UK before that (British Telecom apprentice then qualified tech) and have been in the industry in this type of role for over 50 years. I have never yet met a registered cabler who was not aware of the above rules as they need to learn these rules in order to qualify as a registered cabler. There are some exceptions to this as when the license (as it was then) was introduced, some Telstra technicians were grandfathered across to license status but they all knew what was going on and had to know the rules.

The information I have previously given re cabling is a distilled version of the rules in order to make it easier for the layman to understand and as I always say, I'm not the cabling police so decide for yourself.

Oh and sorry for the late reply, I had some kind of log jam in my email and recieved 4 days of emails in one go today.