Starlink with Cat5E cables in new house….help

[Maddog66]

We recently moved into our new house and it is “wired” with several Cat5E cables…all terminated in the basement near the electrical box. One goes to the family room, the bedroom, my office, and the kitchen.

Right now I have the “Standard” Starlink router in the middle of the basement at the end of its 50’ antennae cable….still about 15’ away from the cluster of Cat5 cables.

Our WiFI strength is ok upstairs but not great. It’ horrible out on the deck and I want it to be better.

Can anyone help me with the steps I need to take and the equipment I should buy to utilize my fancy new wiring in the house to get a better WiFi signal?

 

[Kdog]

I have a tp-link mesh system (link below) that I got on Amazon years ago and it works great. That is not going to help you with your wired system though. My house is roughly 4200 sf and we have not had any connectivity issues since I installed it.

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Deco-Whole-Home-System/dp/B06WVCB862/ref=sr_1_18?crid=1AP6N8R7PT0J9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.xFB3vDaCt6in4tbY1GuyDxNiepWvSDqwJUDx6JJ17h0pTUR3T6Ryg2hMqdXxOq38ki_SCVc0rSi71GHXTAjjTkqUKEl-BfbZa1BPZn_ytiKKICfs2D6ezcIxd6T-mztwtsNGTJMeAmrJj94nbcB3w3mulrFW7beYnh0hvnwzR1m0K38JUcXl9Sg0WVkR4HMQG9MrnfGAjo_DE0BnZkbjASJqSIlmSq9QYdACNOQqISo.pjnGCkzD6sKnnIhlyt3wEWPpe44m_5zuF3wFpq5mwNU&dib_tag=se&keywords=tp%2Blink%2Bwifi%2Bextender&qid=1757353394&sprefix=%2Caps%2C79&sr=8-18&th=1

 

[Bill]

They sell adaptors on Amazon. Search starlink to cat5

 

[Telemark]

Seeing this for the first time.

You ever get this figured out?

 

[Maddog66]

Not really tbh. I talked to a few of my younger tech savvy colleagues this week and they all have fiber optic internet and use Mesh systems. They don’t have the cables in their houses.

Im not sure that’s what I need given my Starlink service….

 

[BenA]

A few ways to go. You can buy another Starlink router and set it as a mesh node. This isn't going to use your network cabling though. It will extend your network wirelessly. You would plug it in to a power outlet upstairs in a central location. You could save money by going with a mesh system like @Kdog mentioned above.

The reason you would want to use the wired network is if you want to do file transfers between devices on your network or have network cameras or something like that which needs fast speed locally between devices. If you don't need that, go with the wireless mesh network. I use Ubiquiti stuff, but there are several good brands.

If you still want the wired connection, let me know what devices you need to plug in to the network, and I can recommend some network equipment.

 

[Maddog66]

Thanks Ben and Kdog! I see now I really have no use for the cables. I’m looking into the mesh hardware now. My house is only about 2100’ but with a big garage, so I’m thinking I’ll order a little ‘larger’ kit so I can be sure to have good coverage out there.

 

[buckdeer1]

You should be able to get a coupler but make sure it's 8 conductor and wired right, then another piece of CAT5 for each wire to extend.Then come off you starlink to a ethernet switch and plug all your extended CAT5 to the switch.This is the way it should work.But this is also an issue with using something that all tax payers paid for him and Trump to act like friends to put all that trash in orbit.Sat internet has it's place in very remote areas but fiber is so much more long lasting and upgradable that it's not funny.If this doesn't work see if you can get ahold of starlink tech support.