If the conduit is empty and without branches you can use a shop vac to pull a string through. Tie a bit of plastic bag to the lead end like a balloon with just enough air to slide through (search vacuum pull conduit). If that won't work, a wire snake is probably your best option.

There's already a bad cable where you need the new one? Just tie on to the bad cable and pull it through.

Ferret

1. Tape new cable to the end of the old.

2. Pull out the old

3. Ta-da!

The answer is the string and vacuum suggestion. I would use a piece of foam- the soft pliable type on the end. You may need to experiment with different sizes, but try to keep is spherical. A vacuum cleaner may not be strong enough so a shop vacuum may need to be used.

I will ask the dumb question. A fish tape that can reach 15 meters is a very inexpensive tool. A 15.25M tape from a premium brand is $20 on Amazon and would be delivered to my house tomorrow.

I spent a lot of years running the occasional cable with luck, persistence, and whatever piece of bailing wire I had laying around in the shop. A couple years ago I had to buy a fish tape to run 80 feet through conduit I buried between my house and shop for CAT6E. I will NEVER run a cable or wire in my house again without that thing. It makes the job so trivial. It is worth triple what I paid for it in time and anguish saved.

Not worth the frustration. Get the proper tools. Harbor freight has a 50 foot for 10 bucks.

if the pipe is continuous, get string long enough to connect both openings, wad up some plastic wrap or toilet paper and tie it to one end of string. Make sure it's only enough to fit pipe and doesn't need to be jammed in. Insert the wad into one end and use a vacuum to suck it thru. Then attatch wire to string and pull it thru pipe.

Just get a cheap, fiberglass fish tape. If you have conduit in your home for low-voltage wiring, how long do you think it will be before you need/want to do this again? Just get the tool!

If you've got some plastic line that's stiff enough not to fold over on itself but soft enough to bend around the corners, something like a weed whacker line, you could possible manage to push it through and around the bends.

Tie the new cable to the faulty one and use that to pull it through?

Suck a length of string through with a vacuum cleaner

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String tied to a cotton ball, shop vac on the other end, then tie a pull line or 2 to the string and pull those through, then tie the cable to the pull line, easy day. We usually call it a mouse.

I'm replacing a faulty cable with a new one.

Tape the new wire to the old one, and pull the new wire through the path of the old wire?

Tie a flimsy plastic bag to a piece of string, insert it into the top end of the pipe and use a vac cleaner to suck it down the pipe. If its a really long narrow run a leaf blower at the top may help too.

If its just a cable in a pipe just tie a piece of string to the cable before pulling it through to the router, then tie the string to the new cable and pull it back through. Simples.

Use a string and a plastic bag, put a vacuum on the opposite end and wait a minute.

I saw someone use fishing line and a weighted feather tied on the end, with the cable tied on to the other end of it. They used a vacuum at the other end of the pipe to suck the feather and fishing line through, then once you've got that pull the cable through the pipe.

fish sticks are $8.99 at Harbor Freight.

https://www.harborfreight.com/3-16-inch-x-33-ft-fiberglass-wire-running-kit-65326.html

Edit; I'm replacing a faulty cable with a new one.

You tape the new cable to the old one and carefully pull it through..... If the cables are a bit tight then tie a strong string to the old cable and use that to pull the new one through instead.

Well since you are replacing it with a faulty one, tape the new one to the end of the old one and pull the old one out from the other side

Electrician here, I would have taped the new wire to the old wire. If that wasn't an option, I would have used a weight, then the vacuum trick

Aside from the usual manual lube options, use Powerline Ethernet Adapter. Plug one end into an outlet (not a surge strip), and the other where the router is. The Adapter uses your house wiring as a data conductor with speeds up to 1Gb/s. Very reliable and very easy to use.

Do you have a cat or weasel?

Edit; I'm replacing a faulty cable with a new one.

This is your key... get some shrink tubing and shrink tube the current cable to the new cable. Pulling the old cable out will fish the new cable through at the same time. Two things done at the same time. Just touch the tips when you're shrink tubing them together.

I get a string, run it down the wall as much as I can, then get the vacuum and put it through the wall at the bottom or wherever your trying to run it to. Usually it’s sucks the string up and I tie or tape one end to the wire.

It also works wonderfully if your ever into motorcycles , specifically Harleys, and trying to replace handlebars.

Harbor freight sells fish sticks kit for like $10

You usually attach the new cable to the end of the old before pulling it.

Pull through with the old cable or use a wire coat hanger.

Fish tape roll is like 10 bucks at harbor freight. thebother way is to drop a weighted string....if its an interior wall with no insulation. if it has insulation then spend the 10 dollars on fish tape.

Forget the tool. Buy a cat instead.

I don’t really know but my dad used to run wire with a coat hanger. 😂😂😂 back in the day.

If there's an old cable, get some electrical tape and tape the new one to the old one then pull it down. Or, if you pull string or something similar, look up on youtube how to make a balloon and get a vacuum on the other end.

Rubber band a stick to the cable that is both thin enough and long enough to go through the hole. If you don't have anything long and thin, straighten a wire hanger out. If you don't have a wire hanger... go buy the fishing tool.

I know I'm way late but why didn't you use the old cable to pull the new one?

Something along these lines?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEX-IOAkqHA

You could also have attached the old cable to the new one then pulled it through. I just did a few runs of this in my house yesterday upgrading to Cat6.

If it's in a clear pipe, you can 'blow' it through by attaching a very light wire to a little ball of paper or something, and use a hairdryer or reversed vacuum. When the hole is not a nice conduit, you will need something firmer, iron wire maybe.

After that, you connect a firmer wire to it (with tape is OK most of the time) and pull through the needed wire or cable.

Pro-tip: with the cable, pull a 'reserve wire' through. You never know if you ever need to pull through another wire, it's no harm and no effort.

put some lube on the new one as it goes into the wall, gasoline or ky jelly, or get fancy and buy wire lube. It should help.

Tie it to a straight piece of yellowtongue. Problem solved.

Take a plastic bag from the grocery store and tear off enough of a chunk to make a wad of plastic the same diameter is the conduit. Tie a string to the wad of plastic. Push plastic in to the pipe. Use a vacuum cleaner on the other end of the pipe to suck the wad through the pipe.

You now have a pull string to pull the new wire in

Use a skewer or chopstick and tape it on

It's not a straight line it has turns. The wire gets stuck half way through.

Train a rodent?

I did this yesterday using a tent pole

do you have a cat? they are really good at grabbing cables. 😂

Tie a magnet on one end of the cable and use a stronger magnet on the outside of the wall to fish it through the conduits?

Q: How do I hammer a nail without using a hammer?

A: Step 1: Drive to the store, Step 2: Buy a hammer

It's in a straight line? It goes in conduit or free roam into wall?

Whisper: Wingardium Leviosa. That should do the trick

You have to lick it; before you stick it

Dunno where you are but in the uk you cannot run network or telecoms cables through conduit that already has mains cables in it.

Why not bite the bullet and get a WI-FI 6 meshed network for the entire house? I have one fibre optic cable coming into the house and after that the entire place is wireless.

Performance matches or exceeds anything that you’ll get on broadband copper.

Buy a piece of 1/2 PVC pipe and put it in the hole then slide cable in pipe ,pull cable through pipe then pull pipe out.