Supplier for brown trunking or cat-5 cable?

I need to run some cat-5 cable in an old stable converted to an office. Unfortunately the only way to run it is along a blank wall which is Magnolia with a dark brown wooden skirting board. The floor is dark carpet.

I can find D-line 'wood effect' trunking which is much too light, or plain square brown PVC stuff. Neither of which is really neat enough for the room which is done to a high spec and used for meeting (and hopefully impressing) clients.

Does anybody have a better idea of how to run the cable unobtrusively?

My best shot so far is to make new skirting with cable runs along the back, but that could be fiddly as it's an unusual custom moulding. I don't really want to mess with digging into the walls if I can help it as there have been damp problems in the past.

Wireless networking is a non-starter for security and speed reasons. WPA is not good enough for this job...

Reply to
PCPaul
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Given what you have, I'd go for getting new wooden skirting and milling a slot in the back. A router in a router table would work for this or it would be inexpensive at a a joinery workshop, even if they have to copy the profile and get a spindle tool made.

Otherwise, you might be able to paint plastic, but I have to say that it would not look as good to have this on show.

As an IT solution, would something like IPSec run as a client on the desktop/laptop machine be an acceptable level of security? There are also routers with this built in, so you could run a protected point to point link with the router fixed nder the desk for example.

Reply to
Andy Hall

I'm tempted - already have the router table set up, but the profile is tricky. And the skirting finish would have to match the rest of the 'stables' which is a sort of weatherbeaten look on dark wood. So I'[m tempted but not jumping at the chance...

Agreed. Although a dark wood (effect?) quadrant trunking *might* be able to be lost in the corner where the skirting meets the carpet, if I could find one. Hmm, I might be able to make/buy a largish wood quadrant bead with enough room to hide a single Cat5. Have to look at that one.

I already have a VPN from my home PC to their router, so setting up an IPSec link in itself wouldn't present a problem. They have a no-wireless policy though, which makes it tricky.

There is mains in there already, so has anybody got experience with Homeplug? Does it work reliably now? It didn't when I tried it when it first came out...

Reply to
PCPaul

If you can get a suitable coloured cable that you can attach into a moulding on the skirting or even ordinary cable a paint the whole lot it will "disappear". Into the lower large curve of Roman Ogee works very well.

I venture to suggest that if the clients are noticing how the cables are run you have lost 'em anyway... Of course if you are trying to flog high quality, unobtrusive, network installs that is a different matter. B-)

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

I totally agree with you there... but as in many things, it isn't what will actually happen as what the paying customer *thinks* will happen.

This is a job I'm doing for a friend for expenses and a beer, so no high pressure sales, but I do like to keep the quality high.

Reply to
PCPaul

Well... it is possible. For a shortish run, it is viable to get the spindle moulding work done with tooling using profile knives. There are dozens of standard ones (you might find one that is the same) and then most larger suppliers will organise knives based on a sample or a drawing on graph paper. I believe these cost in the low tens of pounds for a set.

That would certainly look better than plastic.

There are some here

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Yes. Not bad. Although logically, the same issues apply as with wireless. However, if it's a policy issue....

Reply to
Andy Hall

Ouch. Probably overkill for 12' of skirting... I'll see if the owner knows where the original came from - I know he project-managed the conversion himself.

You have the same respect for non-technical 'policy' decisions as me then...

I think with Homeplug it would be different - this is an isolated cluster of buildings, so nobody else could (easily) get onto the same phase within a reasonable distance.

Hmm. Maybe homeplug is the way to go after all. I can get a pair of Solwise 85Mbps homeplugs for £45.. might be the simplest way.

Reply to
PCPaul

OK. I didn't know how much money was attached to this project in terms of investment for the customer.

So I think it leaves you with two questions:

- Will it work? They do. I have seen Wifi implemented this way in several small to medium sized hotels. There's a router in the reception with a Homeplug adaptor. Then on each floor a plug-in Homeplug with Wifi access point. This is very quick and easy to do and does seem to work -- i.e. I couldn't measure the difference compared with a local access to the DSL connection. I haven't tested these in terms of throughput at higher data rates or on crappy wiring however.

- Will the customer be OK with it? Will they ever know? You can tick the box that you aren't using "wireless" in good faith.

Reply to
Andy Hall

It looks like they all use a common channel, so ten or so units is the practical limit - but in this case I'm only looking at a pair, so I should be getting a fair old throughput. They need to be able to use VoIP and video streaming through it, but an 'up to 85Mbps' link over a short distance should be able to handle that...

Like I said, it's for a friend, and it's his company. But in the position it's in, I think Homeplug should be secure enough - looks like it has the equivalent of Mac address filtering and 56-bit encryption.

Reply to
PCPaul

I used a pair of those recently. Worked just fine sharing an extension lead with all the usual PC spaghetti

Reply to
stuart noble

Plaster-Board A Ceiling Or Wall With Less Cuts Screw hard-board strips between joints, no need to cut board center of bearer

FROM:

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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN AND IS IT A GOOD IDEA???

Reply to
George (dicegeorge)

Just one word missing I suspect

"Plaster-Board A Ceiling Or Wall With Less Cuts Screw hard-board strips between joints, no need to cut board ON center of bearer"

Bob

Reply to
Bob Minchin

They aren't much cop, I'd go for the Devolo 200AV plugs and ensure that you update the firmware.

Reply to
Steve Firth

I suppose it would work with chipboard or mdf, but fixing it between the joists would be a fiddle. Sounds like a lot of work to save a couple of quid's worth of plasterboard.

Reply to
stuart noble

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