Cat5e cable running 125 feet affecting internet speed?

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iggystooge

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Jun 27, 2007
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Hi,

Forgive my ignorance about the subject I write about, but I couldn't find an answer in the forum. I have a cable modem, run to a router, with two computers connected off it in my house, not too far away from the router. I want to run another Cat5e cable to my studio in the back yard about 125 feet away. If I do this, will all three computers be affected by slower internet speed? Also, if any of you were doing this, would you use Cat6 instead? Thanks in advance!

Iggy
 
First reply is correct, additionally, your ISP connection is the slow link in the chain - Ethernet is way faster than your connection to the internet. I would not bother with Cat 6 unless it is the same price.
 
I agree. Cat 5 is fine, if it's still out there, it will be a tad cheaper than 5e. Don't bother with cat6, because some cat 6 have a plastic divider that runs down the center so it's a pain to work with.
 
Thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply. You guys are fast! Thanks to all of you for what I interpret as good news!
 
One note: IEEE spec for Ethernet is 100meters of Cat5e (e-enhanced) for 1Gb/s, Cat5 is for 100 Mb/s. If you do use standard Cat5 and you can't link at 1G, try reworking the connectors. A poor or cheap connector or a poor wiring job can affect the attenuation of the wire and can impact the distance you can achieve. (suspect this problem if can't get more than a 100Mb/s link or you can't hold 1G line rate).

Technically a Cat5 cable will 'probably' work at 1G for this distance, but I'd look around for a good price on Cat5e, especially if you have a difficult task to physically run the wire. There are other factors that can affect distance other than length (interference, temperature, twisted cable, stretched cable, kinked cable, splices, etc.).

If money is not a concern try Cat6A (a-augmented) and you'll be ready for 10 Gb/s! 8O

Good luck!
 
I agree. Cat 5 is fine, if it's still out there, it will be a tad cheaper than 5e. Don't bother with cat6, because some cat 6 have a plastic divider that runs down the center so it's a pain to work with.
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That is why business loves it. Running through furniture and ceilings it is virtually indestructable. Supervised three build outs as part of my job. The cable guys hate it but you cant kink that stuff.
 
Thanks again for the replies. I did get 150' Cat5e cable and I'm ready to hook up this weekend. One last question. Is this something I can bury a couple of inches underground, or should I have it lifted off the ground ala a cable or telephone wire? I'm running it to a studio behind my house.
 
either your telecom people or the Electric Co will tear it down in a heart beat if you try to string it from the poles. Burying will be the better option, but you'll need some form of conduit to run it through. some PVC piping would work fine
 
why not just go wireless with better antennas? Then no digging, no problems, range should be ok, and if not take it back. But if you get a linksys router, purchase their high gain antennas on both ends, and you should be good to go.
 
It also depends on how permanent you want this to be. Directly burying plain old ethernet cable might run into problems with moisture, and will eventually degrade and fail. If you don't have immediate moisture problems after your first good rain you will probably be okay for a few years.

The military buries their network cables at 'temporary' command points that can be around for years at a time. They also probably use better than average network cable.

Above ground you'll have UV deterioration to deal with. I've had 100' runs of Cat 5 stapled to exterior walls of buildings that lasted for a couple of years, but when pulling down the wire the outer shield was cracked and brittle, and it was only a matter of time before the link would have failed.

Make sure you keep all connectors inside or in weatherproof enclosures and assuming you don't have faulty shielding either buried or strung should last for a while. You can also buy a cheap Wifi router and card for about $60 and not have to mess with burying cables or weather.
 
I would think the durability of an unprotected underground run would depend on the location and the quality of the insulating layer. See if the company that makes the cable has a web site that explains outdorr or underground use. If you live in a dry climate and there aren't a lot of big roots in the area, a run should last many years. The sign that the wire is degrading would be a failure to link at 1G (although it's possible it could just fail too).

I don't like the wireless option (but that may just be me). It seems like I'm always messing around with my wireless connection, rebooting routers, messing around with security configurations, or I'm in continuous upgrade mode (upgrading from b to g and now to n). The beauty of wired Ethernet is that it's faster, it's MUCH more scalable, it's cheaper, and once its set up and working it's unusual (in my experience) to have to mess with it again.

Good luck!
 
Thanks again for the replies. I did get 150' Cat5e cable and I'm ready to hook up this weekend. One last question. Is this something I can bury a couple of inches underground, or should I have it lifted off the ground ala a cable or telephone wire? I'm running it to a studio behind my house.
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Run it in some small diameter black polybutylene water pipe the full distance and bury it in the ground, the water pipe will protect it indefinitely.
 
When Cable TV or Phone enters your home, there's typically a great big copper connector going to your house ground. If lightning strikes the cable system, the theory is that much of the energy will be routed through this conductor, and won't spike your TVs and cable boxes.

If you run ethernet underground in an unshielded non-conductor (e.g. PVC or a water hose), a lightning strike could hit the ethernet and go directly into your computer in your studio, and your router in your house. From there, it could proceed to other computers connected to your router and possibly even to your cable modem and cable TV.

You could protect against this some with a surge protector that supports ethernet, placed at both ends.

If you go wifi, you don't need to worry about this. If you are in a sparsely populated area, I would recommend that route for that reason alone, not to mention the maintenance of a buried ethernet cable.
 
only if you seal the ends up so no water can get in, otherwise the cable will just sit in a puddle and be continuously eaten away.
 
For Simple SOHO networks setups anything Higher that Cat4 is good. Cat5, Cat5e and Cat6 are only needed when you're connecting devices that are far away ( like 250 Ft away and provides better shielding against interference at the end of the day Cat5e is more that enough.
 


Hi iggystooge,

how did it go at the end? Are you getting 1GBit transfer on Cat 5e?

After poking my head for some time why my home network runs in 100MBit transfer rate only while it should in 1GBit I have replaced the cables from unshielded Cat5e to Cat6a shielded and... it now works in 1GBit :)

The only problem I have that two cables going to my upstair rooms are also of Cat5e (however shielded) & can't be easily replaced so I have that connections still only 100MBit. What's the moral? Don't EVER buy Cat5e, get Cat6/6e or even better Cat6a (certified for 10GBit).

If it says something "should work" it will probably not...

So, I am curious are you ok? I may try redoing the connection to 1st floor wall ports (those are Cat 6) but I really doubt it will help. For example the cat 5e cables I was using (1 to 3m only) were factory plugged and still could not carry 1GB on such short distance.

I may endup getting dLAN powerline 1200 + WiFi ac Starter Kit - (2x plugs) and using powerline but who can guarantee me high speeds and low latency here?

Cheers
 
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