![shotgun lathe and plaster wall penetration test shotgun lathe and plaster wall penetration test](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/d8/07/9dd8074cde62d1ea9359f420e1ce4692.jpg)
In the past day, I've received conflicting advice about the worthiness of my Cat 5. This scenario has me thinking hard about terminating my Cat 5 and I've spent much of the past two weeks learning about home networking. I keep two ATT landlines: one for old relatives to call us (because they can't learn new things like phone numbers) and another for professional communication with the IRS (because they aren't allowed to use email). We pay for 100Mbps Comcast internet, do not have, and do not intend to have, Cable TV service. There is some kind of internet ready TV that we're not using much. The current load on bandwidth is 4 iPhones, one iPad (streaming movies most of its life), four laptops, one desk top. However, my people (who may increase by one more due to the economic effect of the pandemic) are Wifi users and I need to improve it significantly. I'm self-employed and work from a basement home office and would prefer, personally, to use Wifi as little as possible. Now the babies are home from college trying to do school online, my wife is trying to do medicine online, and everyone is yelling at me about the Wifi. Wifi technology improved, more babies were born, the electrician went AWOL.
![shotgun lathe and plaster wall penetration test shotgun lathe and plaster wall penetration test](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bfuon-lNOHg/XyetInRFqhI/AAAAAAAAGdw/VMSTY2btyc8VPT14Kcjx8V9wQp9dPRLfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s500/bitumen-penetration-test-apparatus.jpg)
Back in 1997, our principal use was cable TV, ATT phone service, and dial-up internet. None of the wire is terminated on either end, save for two Cat 3 lines into phone jacks on the second floor. Prior to moving in, my now AWOL electrician pulled seven home runs of coax, Cat 3 and Cat 5 from seven second-floor locations to the basement. The plaster appears to be 0.5 to 0.75 inches thick. In 1997, I purchased my 1890 two-floor home with plaster walls (wood lath). Seeking some advice about decisions about improving Wifi in my home and whether to connect Cat 5 cable that I pulled 23 years ago.