Questions regarding running long ethernet cable?

[Guest]

Hello, I am sick and tired of dealing with my wifi issues, and as such am finally considering biting the bullet and using an Ethernet connection along the outside of the house I am staying at. I measured out the distance and I think I am going to need about 100-150ft Ethernet cable. My question is at that distance, considering the max is slightly above 300 feet, since it is within the max length, would I have any sort of degrade in signal because of the length? im used to only needing no more than 6-10ft of length from the router, and as such I am hoping I will still get the speed I pay for. Im a gamer, and my IP ping is usually around 25-35ms, so would the ping be affected much by the jump in length? Will a long running Ethernet cable still provide better performance than say a wifi connection?

My other question is, if I do this, I want to have two routers hooked up, so my landlord can have her own router, while I have my own router for my own network. So with my situation will I be able to isolate my network from my landlords, while at the same time be able to share the internet connection itself? What I am thinking is, and I hope this works, is that I currently have the modem connected to the router, and I will be running this long Ethernet cable from one of the Ethernet ports on the router with the internet connection, to the other end of the house, plugged into the other router's internet port. Will this setup share just the internet connection, and keep our networks separated?

Much thanks for any help. I just want to make sure everything will work out for what I need before I make the plunge.

 

[warhead0]

Simply put, if there is a difference you will probably not even notice it. You may want to use a Cat 6 cable since they have a longer range of operation, just to be on the safe side.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Cable speeds are loads faster than WiFi speeds.

The length won't be an issue.

I'm set up as follows:

Modem => Router =>Box 1
.................................Box 2
.................................8 Port Ethernet Switch => 6 Boxes
.................................8 Port Ethernet Switch => 4 Boxes / 3 Printers

Doing two routers is a bit more complicated

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/routers/a/how-to-connect-two-routers-on-a-home-network.htm

 

[zink1701]

You can run a CAT5 (Ethernet) cable up to 300m or 328ft without any signal loss so you are good with the length and should not see any loss. Just be sure though to plan the cable route so it does not cross or go near any AC mains cables (the ones that go to plug sockets ect) as you will get AC induction on the CAT5 and it may interfere with the signal being set down it (We use CAT5 on some CCTV installations and you can see the interference AC induction causes). When running it outside be sure to secure it properly and if using cable clips and a hammer try not to hit the cable as it may also give you problems.

 

[Guest]

Ah ok thanks for the heads up. Would a cat6 be less susceptible to this "AC induction"? I ask because I think it would be near a wall outlet at the source. :-/

Also what about running it near a coaxial cable? I was planning on running the ethernet along the wall with the cable so it will blend in and not add more eyesore to the outside of the house.

EDIT: two more questions. Since my Internet tops out at 27 MBps, I assume there will be no noticeable difference in performance if I used a 100mb ethernet cable as opposed to a gigabit cable? At least not until the router itself no?

Also, what are those cable clips called? Like what would I look for online or at my hardware store? Thanks

 

[john-b691]

Not sure why people worry about cable length and speed. Data travels at some fraction of the speed of light in copper cables. Does it take longer to go though a 300ft cable than a 10ft cable yes some tiny fraction of a millisecond. The overhead in the router/pc to convert the data from the bit stream in the cable to bytes and packets in the end device is much higher....but still well under 1/10 of a millisecond..even less on 1g ports.

So as mentioned go with cat5e or cat6 cable. I would use which every you can get the cheapest, lately I have been able to get cat6 cable cheaper for unknown reasons. They can both run 1g with no issues which is much higher than anyone can afford for internet.

You networks are only "sorta" separated. The devices connected to the second router will be able to get to the first routers devices but not the otherway around. This is the NAT issue as to why machines inside your house can get to the internet but internet machine cannot get to you.

Your plan will mostly work as long as you do not need things that require port forwarding or UPnP. Get kinda messy dealing with 2 routers when you need to map ports all the way though. Since you mentioned gaming be aware of this xbox is one of the things like uses UPnP

 

[rhysiam]

Probably not an issue for you, but just thought I'd chime in. I live in Australia and have seen outdoor Cat5 runs destroyed by the sun in like 18months. You can get outdoor rated cable which will last a little longer, but still only a few years if it's regularly exposed to direct sunlight. You're probably fine where you are, but it's just something to bear in mind if you live in Oz or somewhere with a similar climate.
Also - no worries about the coaxial cable. That'd just be for an aerial I'm guessing? The signal strength on those is very low and won't have any impact on your signal.

 

[manofchalk]

^ When you run the cable outside, have it inside a PVC pipe. That way its protected from the elements and looks like a part of the house.

There would be no difference in performance between a 100mb and Gigabit cable if your already limited to 27MB, but you might want to run the Gigabit anyway. Who knows, you might end up expanding on the home network to include a NAS, and then you will be able to take advantage of that speed/bandwidth.

 

[john-b691]

I would not worry a lot about running the cable outside. If you have siding put it right up under a board if its brick in the groves works well. Both hide it well. I have had a piece run up the side of a 40ft tower for 5 years and it works well. If you worry about UV from the sun simple latex house paint will block that. I am suspecting this is not permanent anyway since you are renting?

 

[Guest]

Yup, exactly. I am thinking of painting it for her as well when I leave. So while its not permanent for me, if it works well I would like to make it permanent for her. Most of the cabling will be under the roofing, with only small sections exposed to the sun. It doesn't look like it will be affected much though, as I see other cabling along the house that has been here an awful long time and still looks and worked fine. But I will pipe up what needs to be piped, and paint what I can't. Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated. I can't wait to start!