Wiring Cat 6 Ethernet Ports Through the Attic 

My biggest tip with this is to double check you are in the right spot before drilling holes everywhere. Also, it might be way too hot to go up in the attic now, make a plan to do it this fall.

To pinpoint where to drill in attic.... Drill a tiny hole in the ceiling, directly front of the wall where your cables are going to drop down and stick a wire hanger up through this hole into the attic. Up in the attic, locate the hanger (have someone move it around if not easily seen) and then drill into the wood joist/doubleplate directly behind the hanger. Fill tiny hole in ceiling with spackle or toothpaste. Works every time, no measuring needed.

A few points: 1) When taping the cable to the coax, stagger the cables, so you don't have one big bump to catch on things as you pull the cable in. 2) For proper installation, always terminate solid cable on jacks and then use a patch cord. While there are plugs for solid wire, those came about only because people insisted on doing things the wrong way. Yes, that means a patch panel at the switch end. 3) Another useful tool is a length of "dog chain", which can be dropped down inside walls, etc.. 4) You installed the jack in the wall upside down. The wires are supposed to be at the top, with the latch at the bottom. This keeps dust from collecting on the contacts. I would also mount the switch connectors down, for the same reason. 5) Do not use solid wire for patch cords. It's not meant for that purpose and movement of the cable may cause metal fatigue in the wires, which will cause a break. In fact, these days, I don't even bother making patch cords, as buying them costs a lot less than my time. 6) It's hard to tell, but it appears you didn't push the cable far enough into the connector. When you crimp the connector, a piece of the plastic is supposed to clamp the outer insulation. BTW, on my 500/20 cable modem connection, I typically get around 935/31, according to speedtest. I've seen as high as 948 down. My LAN is 1 Gb, so there's not much room for improvement.

Don’t you just love when everything works out perfectly.

When crimping an rj45 plug please push your cable in as far as you can so it also grips on the outer sleeve, the way you did yours they will eventually break.

Tip when stripping the cable the String is in there for a reason to help strip the jacket back, Its best practice to strip using the tool and then use the string to strip the jacket back further and use that fresh pulled back wire for termination. When using a stripper its possible to nick the wires and have them break when terminating or even worse in a few months time with movement and temp expansion cause intermittent problems.

When running the cable be sure not to lay it next to power wires. It can and will pick up static from the current causing errors. Be sure to shove the wire sleeve up into the RJ45 giving the plug more support before crimping it down.

Great video 👍 really good info here. Best time to do this project is fall or spring because attics during summer can reach 150f.

If you have an oscillating tool you can get a special saw attachment that cleanly cuts a perfect rectangular hole in dry wall. Although for some reason it works better with some oscillating tools than others.

Brett, great video with good pacing, just enough detail, very well done. I ran most of the cabling for a new home so was able to do so before the drywall was on so that was super nice! I bought a patch panel to really do it "right", but as it is coming down to it, I may just terminate those into the switch....

I have done a lot of network installs and I think it would be a good idea to re-crimp those RJ 45 ends and push the jackets way further inside so that it crimps properly.

15:46 is my favorite part of the video!

A good, informative video. Thanks!

Thank you so much for putting this video together. Running additional ethernet cables has been on my bucket list for awhile. This video really helped me understand what all is involved and the tools required. If it is not practical or possible to run an ethernet cable to a particular room, would you recommend using a power line ethernet adapter?

Great video! Would’ve liked you to touch more on the unfortunate use of A & B “standard” of wiring the RJ 45 connectors.

A bit difficult to see but it looked like the plug didn’t crimp on to the outer sleeve. Tends to put strain on the connections into the signal wires. Also there are 2 types of cables, stranded and solid core. Stranded is for use from a socket to a device as it can flex easier, but it has a higher attenuation so shouldn’t be used for more that 10 meters. Solid core is the stuff you do between socket and patch panel. Better attenuation but not designed to be flexed. The maximum distance you can run that is 90meters. This gives you the maximum 100 meter rating. If you flex solid core it starts to crack the conductors and it eventually fails. If you punch down in sockets and patch panels then they have a guarantee of 20+ years, so it’s a fit and forget. Patch leads are throw away items. Remember the specs are usually built with some over engineering and are, if followed, able to guarantee it will work to spec so when you put your cable certifier on the line it passes all the tests. Then the installer gives the 20 year guarantee backed up by the cable manufacturer. I’ve done 10’s of thousands of cables and only ever seen one fail cert tests for anything other than miss wiring. Don’t sweat the advice here though, let’s face it your not going to be moving the switch connections about much so it’s not likely to have a problem that end and the other end is a socket. The patch cable breaking will just be a case of throwing it away and terminating another. Good on ya for jumping in and getting it done.

As an RCDD for 30 nearly years. I recommend buying your station cables rather than using the Cat-6 solid conductor cable which is used for your horizontal path cable.

I’m so fascinated about your switch setup. Looks so clean and easy to understand.

Great video sir! Thank you so much 🎉

THIS IS the video I needed

15:45 - "Why is daddy talking to himself? I'm scared..."

Thanks Brett 🙂. Sending this to my Son who is an Electrician. JaneLee - in Suburban Philadelphia 6/26/22

Not as scary as I thought it would be making my own cables! Now I can run my own cable to my mancave! Can't wait!

The crimping of connectors still needs to be improved. The insulation of cable should go deeper into the RJ45 connector.

Great video thank you!

ALWAYS spray foam the penetrations (above and below the living space.) That's the only way to effectively keep your conditioned air in the conditioned space. As to the RJ45 crimping, push the jacket (blue in this case) far enough into the RJ to allow the crimp to contact the jacket.

Thank you for this valuable guide, I’m in the middle of setting up my smart home network room where I’ll be setting up all my hubs, I’m also trying to hardwire each room in our home. I’m using Netgear Wi-Fi 6E and I have 5 Ethernet satellites again great video thank you so much!!

Lol. Network snobs critiquing. 😂 I loved the video. Thanks, dude.

Nice sometime next year were gonna get our electrician to install networking into our house and ethernet jacks. Since ATT Fiber might be coming to our area in a year or 2 and for when we have wifi issues. :)

Doing attic work by yourself is the worst lol. You are a hero.

Just my two cents: the information printed on the cable not only tells you it is Cat 6, it also has the foot measurement of the cable. I believe it's in two foot increments. No need to guess how long the cable is or when to cut, just look at the cable and it will let you know how many feet you have pulled.

Pretty good with the basics. Only thing I might add is you really shouldn’t use solid core riser cable from the wall to the computer. Every time you move it your risking bending and breaking it. Stranded cabling is better. Also I would have put stain relief boots on the cable.

Mistake 1- u attached coax to Ethernet cables -- attract a pull string or 2 for future… If no coax pull I have before have pushed up from 1st floor pvc pipe to drop the cables thru…. PVC 1 inch or 3/4 or 1/2 pipe 10 ft stock length easily to get into the 8 foot tall 1st floor and the stiffness punches thru any obstacles in its way after cables and string pushed down pipe. Then you pull pipe out from the first floor

Great video! Quick question, how come your Cat6 cable didn't have a pair separator between each pair?

i like cat 6 ethernet ports : )

I have a question how do you use your old smart phone as Google assistant like the Google nest hub but it's on your phone and the display will be the same with Google nest hub

Hi Brett, 3 years ago you made a video about ace 2. Can it show how many calories are burnt? Thanks

First lovely vid amazing idea

I do it the old fashion way of producing the patch cables, without a passthrough rj-45. I'm jealous. But at least I have 8 network ports through conduit in my office connected to one of my two 24 port gigabit switches.

In my opinion, going through the attic is always the best option as it is easy to hide away all the cables, and easy to drill into walls and drop the cables down inside the walls

why was the speed test with the laptop vs the computer different? Should a drop in speed be expected when connected to ethernet?

Did you pull the black cable out first and then fish through that hole? so two cables in one small hole?

so those cables on copper pipe..so if they sweat or get hot?

just an fyi, cat6 only does 10Gbps at up to about 50 meters, you need cat6a for 10Gbps up to 100 meters

Everyone else has critqued this but I'm curious about one thing. Why do you have the switch mounted with the ports facing up (or was that just a trick of the camera)? I would think you would want them facing down, so dirt and other debris doesn't get into them.

Your operation is very detailed, which helps me a lot, but the insulation of cable should go deeper into the RJ45 connector.

If you put in ethernet cables throughout your house, then I would suggest using a patch panel instead of directly installing ethernet crimps.

Awesome video! I recently got a Firewalla to use as my edge router. Was able to get a lot better network speeds rather than using my WiFi router as my main router. Might help you out to get a different router instead of using the Google router.

Very nice work, but my house has a fire block in the wall, so it's a bit hard to run the wire all the way down straight. 😐

Seems like CAT6 is the go-to-way in the US these days. In Germany you can hardly find any CAT6 cables. The standard here is CAT7, these days often CAT7A, some people even use CAT8.2 (but I doubt the latter one makes any sense as 10GBase-T already consumes multiple times the power a 1GBase-T connection does, I guess 40GBase-T would run extremely hot and be even more power hungry) I guess anything above CAT7 does not really make sense, for anything faster than 2.5 Gigabit at home I'd rather use Fiber, preferably multimode. Consumes a lot less power and can even do 25, 40 or 100 Gbit/s.

7:15 *_do not use sprayfoam insulation if the hole is too big_* , you will hate yourself later on. Just use some tape if you are worried about the cords wiggling or stuff some excess loose insulation in the hole.

What was that switch and is it connected to the router Ethernet port or wired in directly

0:39 if you cut a box for both rooms in the same stud bay, you'll get more noise transmission between the rooms. You may not want that.

Bro I been wanting to wire this house with ethernet forever now. The only ports in the rooms are phone line jacks. I'm just worried Cat 6 won't be enough for long distances so I might have to go Linus Tech Tips style. I'm this close to just hiring an electrician. Also I've never been in my attic before.

There are snap in connectors better than punch down use regular rf45 ends

FYI, you can get more than 1000Mb on cat5e. Most houses are short runs and there's not hundreds of cables like a business would have so no cross talk

hi i am in a new built home with network points in diffrent rooms ,but i dont see any patch pannel in my home anyone have any idea .there is no basment is it possible in the attic thanks .

Tech with Brett I have ea problem smth happened to my email so I woke up and it said my account would be deleted in 29 days I'm trying to save the stuff by it gets deleted but idk what to do exactly please help

Glad you didn’t hit any fire blocks in your walls. I know it’s overkill, but I would have used CAT8 cable to future proof. And yes that coax is for an attic mounted antenna, a lot of new builds have that. I guess you won’t be putting one up there now. 😊

What if you need multiple wires in that room but you only have one outlet?

Wow that insulation looks awful and messy, do you guys have Rockwool there in the US?

Why not 6A? 6 only 10Gbps to 55 meters?

Any idea how to make my tpljnk access points faster there WiFi 6 and it was an extender but in access point mode now. Also how can I make my gigabit Internet faster on ethernet I got a cat 7 ran to outdoor conveted like in the garage in the mesh WiFi video

No fire block in that wall?

Wow

Brother. how much do you weigh? 🤔 Will my attic stand if I climb it. i weigh 224 pounds 😬😁 Thanks for video 💯

Love me a good hard line

This may be dumb question but why need cat with wifi?

You can use COAX as Ethernet.

Yaaloo

I wish I had ethernet ports in my house

that's a bigist idea

Did you paint that smoke detector yellow?! Not allowed!

I know this is old but for others that just ran across this tutorial like I have this is an excellent guide in WHAT NOT TO DO! Data cable should be kept away from electrical wires as much as possible. The cable in the attic and wall cavity should be stapled. Twists in the cable pairs should be maintained as close as possible to the terminations in the keystone The outer jacket of the cable needs to be well past the strain relief. The cables coming into the room with all the network gear should be on a patch panel. Don’t make your own station cables buy pre-terminated ones. If you insist on making your own use stranded wire rather than solid core. I know the heads on many pass-thru brands say they work with solid core but they have a high failure rate. CAT6 will run 10GB at 55 meters. You’ll probably connect at greater lengths but will likely have hire loss rates. 2.5 GB is possible at 100 meters.

Little lady came in to check on you 15:47

Should have ran a string with it and pulled coax back up for future

Not all cables follow that pattern with pre-made as long as both ends are the same

You're supposed to push the sleeve of the cable up inside the connector

Should be using Cat7 to future proof....

You need to fix those cable crimps man. You crimped the wires more than the sleeve. Oof

While outdoor ethernet cable is available, I would never use it as copper on the outside of the house is susceptible to lighting strikes and can not just fry your network but all devices that are hard wired to it.

@Brett is that a Mi Watch at 08:24

You might want to check that yellowed smoke detector. They only have a certain lifespan before they expire.

i tried for 3 hrs to use them pass through plugs i couldnt get them wires to pass through for nothing

Cat6 is 10 Gbps speed up to 55 meters. You would need Cat6a if you want 10 Gbps speed up to 100 meters.

I’m not familiar with building code in America. What in the world is up this horrible loose insulation all over your attic? Is that common? Seems like a total nightmare to deal with.

30 years of networking and i have never seen a crimp in reverse order..

No they make rj45 passthru keystones. No need to punch down wires. Just put connectors on both sides.

Your plan works if existing wiring isnt secured to inside framing and there are no fire breaks.

You use Google WIFI as your primary router? braveman!

Cat5E will also carry 10gig at 100 meters, actually up to 140 meters that I've personally tested

Um actually... Cat6 supports 10Gbps for 55m. 😊 Otherwise, great vid.

You're got the jack upside down

Looking at your smoke detectors appear to be beyond their 10 life limit, replace them with combination photoelectric/CO talking detectors!

Always install the faceplate with the pins on top, you have it upside down.

What if you dont have an attic? !

Oof! If you’re going to make a “how to” video, it’s likely a good idea to show people how to do it right. - CAT6 only good for 10G up to 55meters or less - One shouldn’t eyeball the wall plate and at least use a level - Don’t untwist the pairs before placing in the keystone, only untwist as much as necessary - make sure the crimps catch the jacket, not just the wires. Your response that it’s “good enough for now” may be okay for you, but you’re making video content to inform, no?

You should probably change that smoke detector, it's fully changed colors, bet it's 15 years old.

Cat 6 will not support 10gb for 100 meters

My internet connection sucks it is 6.4mbps