Structured Cabling and Fiber Relocation in a San Francisco Cottage
Small two-story cottage-style house ยท Bernal Heights, San Francisco
The situation
The owners of a small two-story cottage-style house in San Francisco wanted wired connections at several spots in the home instead of relying on Wi-Fi alone, and they wanted the router out of the living room and somewhere more central. The incoming AT&T fiber terminated in the living room, which fixed the network's starting point at one corner of the house. The lower level was under construction with walls open, so the timing was right to run cable with almost no demolition.
What we did
We relocated the incoming AT&T fiber from the living room to a new mini-MDF in the garage, re-terminated it there and tested the fiber at the new location. From that point we pulled five Ethernet runs: to the bedroom next to the garage, the lower-level office, the second-floor bedroom above the office, the living-room router position, and one spare run to a future wall location, left coiled with service slack so it can be terminated later.
We routed through the existing access and open wall cavities wherever possible. Where we had to make access openings in walls and ceilings, we left them for the construction crew to patch as part of their work. Every run was labeled and tested for continuity.
The result
The house now has a single wiring point in the garage with the fiber terminated and tested, and five labeled Ethernet drops ready to connect to the owners' existing eero system. The router no longer has to live where the fiber happened to land, and the spare run means one more room can be wired later without opening walls again.
Questions about this kind of job
Is it cheaper to run Ethernet during a remodel?
It's usually far less disruptive. On this job the lower-level walls were already open, so we pulled five runs with only a few small access openings, which the construction crew patched along with their own work.
Can the fiber termination be moved to a better spot in the house?
Yes. We relocated this home's incoming AT&T fiber from the living room to a new mini-MDF in the garage, re-terminated it and tested it there, which let all the Ethernet runs start from one central point.
Why run Ethernet if we already have a mesh Wi-Fi system?
Mesh units work far better when each one has a wired connection back to the router instead of relaying over Wi-Fi. These drops were installed so the owners' existing eero units and wired devices could connect directly.
What happens to the holes you make in the walls?
We create only the access openings needed for routing and leave them for your contractor or painter. Drywall, paint and finish repairs weren't part of this scope.
Services: Ethernet wiring, Access points, Whole-home Wi-Fi, Network rack & cabling