How Adelaide houses shape the cable runs
Stone walls block Wi-Fi and drills alike
By 1891, 68% of Adelaide's houses were stone, much of it bluestone. Solid masonry soaks up a Wi-Fi signal, and it's slow to cut into, so cablers in these homes usually drop cable down from the roof space or run it along skirting instead of chasing walls.
Single storey helps
Most Adelaide suburbs are single-storey detached houses, so nearly every room has roof space above it. That makes it simpler to bring each run back to one spot near where the internet comes in.
Slab floors mean the roof, not underneath
Later homes are mostly brick veneer on a concrete slab, built for Adelaide's reactive soils. With no subfloor to crawl through, every new data point comes down from the ceiling.
Trust homes and renovations
If you're opening up walls in an older Housing Trust home anyway, that's the easiest moment to add data, because the cable goes in before the plaster does.
Two registrations, two pieces of paper
The data side. The ACMA says a registered cabler can do or supervise all communications cabling in a home or office, though not cabling owned by a carrier or NBN. Ask to see their registration card. The first letter of the number shows which of the four registrars holds it, and you can check it's current with that registrar.
At the end, a registered cabler gives you a signed statement that the work meets the cabling Wiring Rules, on the ACMA's form or attached to the invoice, and keeps a copy for 12 months. If they spot old cabling that doesn't meet the standards, they may give you a Cabling Advice Form TCA2 so you can decide what to do about it.
The power side. New power points beside each data point, or a circuit for a data cupboard, are SA electrical work. In SA that's a registered electrical worker's job, done for a CBS-licensed contractor, with an eCoC to you within 30 days.
What a good Adelaide cabling quote spells out
- How many points, in which rooms, and how many cables to each.
- The route: roof space, skirting or inside the wall, room by room.
- Where every run ends up, and whether there's a power point there.
- Which power points are included, with the contractor's CBS licence number.
- The cabler's ACMA registration number.
- Testing and labelling of every run.
- Both pieces of paper: the cabling statement and the eCoC.
What you can set up, and what you can't
You can
- Set up the modem, router and plug-in Wi-Fi units.
- Use patch leads between a wall point and your devices.
- Put a strip of tape on the wall wherever you'd like a point.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- New or moved power points beside data and TV points.
- Power for a data cupboard, including any new circuit.
- Cutting into walls and ceilings where mains cables already run.
- The data cable itself, by a registered cabler or under one's supervision.
Where we'd start in an Adelaide home
We'd wire the desk and the TV first, each with a power point beside it, and bring every run back to where the NBN comes in. In a stone house we'd ask the electrician to walk the roof space before quoting, because that's where the route gets decided. And we'd ask for both the ACMA registration number and the CBS licence number in the same email.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.