Use blank wall plate locations for cable run to basement?

5 years ago

I tried using mesh pucks to get better wifi in my basement, but it's not working well enough for video conferencing. Speedtest verified. My router is just above on the next floor up (living room) and there's a blank wall plate with nothing inside it around that location.

There's also a blank wallplate pretty close to that location on the basement wall, but not directly below the upstairs one as I expected. The upstairs one is 13' from the corner, while the basement wallplate is about 11'. This is pretty new construction (3 years ago).

Why aren't they directly below one another? That would seem to make it easy - run the ethernet cable down from one to to the other and put a wifi switch in the basement, or plug into the computer's ethernet port directly.

How can I best proceed? What kind of thing do I need to run the cable down to the basement from that wall plate location, and I guess put another hole in the wall and plate with an ethernet connector on it?

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Comments (11)

mtvhike
5 years ago
What's behind the wall plate?
cat_ky
5 years ago
Are you sure there is nothing in that blank wallplate. Seems a bit unusual for a new house to have places with blank wallplates.
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Bill Hines
Original Author
5 years ago
It's just insulation behind the blank wallplate. I'm guessing they were put there in case we wanted to route coax or something. New house (3 years old) so I think they didn't run coax since it's basically obsolete. Trying to reach the contractor to verify.
mtvhike
5 years ago
Are you saying that behind the wall plate, the drywall has been removed, so you see the insulation? BTW, coax is not obsolete. Is the wall plate located in a place where you might want a TV, cable box, or cable modem?
Bill Hines
Original Author
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Yes, they look to be where one might want a TV, cable box, or modem. if I pull the blank wallplates, it's just a square cutout in the drywall, and if I feel around inside it, it's just insulation. If I push wire down through the wall plate opening on the first floor, there's not a channel to the basement, is there? Would that be open enough to push down to the basement, or would some framing be blocking that at the floor level?
mtvhike
5 years ago
There may or may not be blocking, but to get to the basement, you will have to go through what I think is called a sill plate. If you can locate exactly where in the basement would be below your wall opening, you might be able to drill up through the sill plate and then push a stiff wire up inside the wall. I did that in my 1895 house to run some wires, but there was no insulation in that wall.

Another possibility would be to temporarily remove the baseboard and drill a hole in the sill plate from above. Of course, a professional electrician would know all the tricks for doing this.
wdccruise
5 years ago
"I tried using mesh pucks to get better wifi in my basement, but it's not working well enough for video conferencing."

Just curious. What mesh system did you use?

You might try this TP-LINK AV600 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit ($38)
Bill Hines
Original Author
5 years ago
I got the TP-Link Deco, rated high by Consumer Reports. They are good, works pretty well, but I want a better signal and a switch down in this basement for even better speed.
wdccruise
5 years ago
Am I right? You connected Deco #1 to your modem; Deco #1 is now the router. You put Deco #2 in the basement and connected it "over the air" to Deco #1. The basement computer is connected to Deco #2 over wi-fi but performance is unsatisfactory. Did you try connecting the computer to Deco #2 with an Ethernet cable? You now want to get rid of Deco #2 and run an Ethernet cable from Deco #1 through the floor to the basement computer.
Bill Hines
Original Author
5 years ago
Yes, I have one Deco hard-wired to the router on the first (main) floor, then another one in the basement, and the third is on the second floor. I didn't think about connecting the computer to the basement Deco with an ethernet cable! I'll give that a shot.
wdccruise
5 years ago
"I have one Deco hard-wired to the router"

Remember that Deco #1 is the router. If you have FiOS, you'll connect the Deco #1 directly to the Verizon Optical Network Terminal. If you have cable (e.g., Comcast), you'll put the cable modem into bridge mode.