What's the cable lenght limit ??

I'm going to run wires thru-out home and need to know what the maximum lenght I can use. I plan on running the patch cable and don't want to loose very much bandwidth.

Thx
Ossa

 

380 feet.
Any longer and you can put a hub in the segment to boost the signal.

 

I have run into to some unexpected cable segment length problems when using 10/100 hubs.

Could not get reliable or any connectivity with cable length within specifications (well under 300 ft). In some cases solved problem by forcing 10/100 NIC to work at 10Mbps. But this did not always work.

What always worked was to replace 10/100 hub with an older technology 10Mb hub.

Netgear tech support confirmed the existence of both the problem and the solution.

Many of the DSL/Cable routers have 10/100 hubs built in. If you run into problems try using a 10Mbps hub to see if it solves your problem.

 

i'm using a Linksys router and the longest cable lenght will be around 200 ft.
I sure hope it works ok but thx for the suggestion.....

 

Actually, the maximum cable lenght of 10 OR 100 BaseT is 100m, or 328ft. If all your runs are under 200ft and you're using a linksys, as long as your terminations are good, then you shouldn't have any problems at all.

drdancm,
If you were having problems with equipment and you knew your lengths were within spec (and those lengths must include all patch cables...the total distance from NIC to switch/hub), then it was probably a bad termination...to much NEXT/FEXT for the circuit to run clean. The solution of switching to an old hub didn't eliminate the problem, it was just too dumb of a device to notice the problem. If you had placed a sniffer off that same hub, you would have seen the L1 problems.

 

For any who are following this and weren't already aware, this discussion pertains only to Cat5 and above UTP cable. The rules for cat3 UTP, coax, and fiber are very different.

Luckily most of the home networks will be just exactly that, cat5 untwisted pair systems but be aware that there are others out there.

 

Great point, Newt!

 

Bought a roll of cat5 cable BUT have a question. Where can i buy a reasonable priced plier for crimping the rj45 ends on these suckers.??
Maybe radio shack ??

Any ideas cos it's only needed once......right?

Thx

 

I'd try a local electronics shop.....or maybe even an electrical supply store. Stay away from the Wal-Marts and Radio Shacks...they're usually a little more for something that's not as good! Though you may think you'll only need it this once, you'll find yourself using it over and over!!! Look for one that's racheting...Paladin and Ideal make some nice ones.....replaceable die....

 

what do they mean when they ask if I want standard or solid RJ45 connectors?? solid is more $$......

Appricate about the pliersand i'll make sure i get a good pair...

Thx

 

I think solid rj45 refer to the type of cable you are clipping to. You can buy solid cat 5 cable and stranded there are different clips for each. I have clipped cables incorrectly and had them work at 10mb but not at 100. The pairs are 1-2, 3-6, 4-5, 7-8. good luck

 

Bill is right, ossa..they are referring to whatever cable you bought...it should be somewhere on a label.

With the tab down on the RJ45 connector and the end up, the colors should be

wh/o, o, wh/gr, bl, wh/bl, gr, wh/br, br

on both ends.

 

OSSA you wrote:
>Where can i buy a reasonable priced plier for crimping the rj45 ends on these suckers.?? <

If you are close to a Graybar electrical supplier (not sure where you live - they are Nation Wide) they sell the Ideal brand of crimpers plus all the accessories for computer networking. I've used this set of crimpers for many years and they have stood the test of time plus dropping several times from 200ft heights.