question Gigabit networking cable

[Adcadet]

I recently built a home theater PC, and very much wanted a wired (vs wireless) connection to the rest of my network. Running the cable was a challenge as it had to go outside the house, and the holes I was using were too small to fit a regular RJ45 connector. So I cut off the connector heads to let me run the cable (cat5e), then put on new heads from a little kit. Pain in the butt to do the first one, second one was pretty straightforward. But now the HTPC only connects at 100baseT, not gigabit. I usually don't care, but I have want to transfer some large media files back and forth. Is it commonly a problem getting gigabit speed from a cable that you put my own ends on? Is this something that usually either works (at gigabit speeds) or doesn't (at all)? Would it help if I removed the ~20 feet of cable that I don't need? Should I just make bigger holes to run store-bought cable? Or does this suggest that the cable is not actually quality cat5e? Using another 50' length of cable (with factory ends) I know the HTPC can do gigabit. I'm just hoping to transfer closer to the 75 MB/s that it could do before rather than 11 MB/s.

 

[ddrueding]

Did you put the ends on in the correct order? The different pairs have a different number of twists per foot, making that significant.

 

[Mercutio]

If it's connecting at all, it should connect at the highest speed it is capable of using.

 

[Adcadet]

I believe I did connect it correctly. The kit had a little diagram and I compared it to a little piece of cat5e that I had as well. And like I said, it connects at 100bT.

 

[Handruin]

How long is the cable you ran? Is it under 100m? Did you severely kink or bend the cable during the process of installing it? I don't believe it is a common problem because I wired 24 ports myself and I only have an issue with one of them that won't connect at GigE (100Mb only, not sure why). I used all toolless keystones and a patch panel that had to be punched down.

 

[Adcadet]

100 foot cable, and it looks like I've got about 20 extra feet. No severe kinks now, although in one spot I did have to bend it sharply for a moment. I also unwound more of the cable than I really needed to make it easy to insert the wires into the connector, so there's about 2 cm of cable that's not twisted together. Do bad connections default from gigabit to 100bT if there's interference?

 

[Handruin]

For GigE connectivity, you want the untwisted portion to be as short as possible for the best possible signal strength. If you can re-terminate it, try to reduce the 2cm down to less if possible. Even one severe kink can sometimes hurt the cable depending on the type. Do you know if the cable you ran is solid or stranded? Longer runs work better with solid cable, but kinking it can damage it. A bad connection of poor signal strength can cause it to auto negotiate below 1000Mb. The same would happen to cause it to go from 100Mb to 10Mb. Have you checked to see if you're getting and packet loss of errors during transmits/receives?

 

[Adcadet]

I'm not sure what solid vs stranded looks like, but the cable had pairs that were twisted together inside the sheath.

The cable also runs outside, where it's currently currently about 10 F (-12 C). Inside it's, well, room temperature. The only break in the outer plastic sheath that I know of is inside the house.

I have not checked for packet loss - how does one do that?

 

[Handruin]

Where did you get the cable from? A solid cable would be very firm to bend where as a stranded cable is typically what you might get from a local store that comes with ends on it and is easily flexible. I'm assuming you ran a stranded cable because you cut off a pre-existing end. I would have run a solid cable for run that long, but that's my own personal opinion. Do you know if you're running near power wires in parallel or any CF lights?

I also have 8 cables which are outside my house, but not subjected to weathering (rain/snow/wind), only temperature (currently 20F at nights right now). So far I have no issues with them being outside. It's probably an 6-8' section outside. I'm running CAT 6 solid Riser cable from monoprice.

For packet loss, you might need to look at the router/switch that you're using. They can sometimes show those metrics. There might be some 3rd party software which could monitor this for you also. You can try running netperf from one machine to another to check throughput and performance.

 

[ddrueding]

Depends on the NIC, but Intel NIC software will give you stats WRT transmit errors.

 

[Adcadet]

Cat5e from home depot. I went outside to inspect it, and found a nasty kink approximately in the center of the cable. I untwisted it, and still connected at 100bT.

Maybe I should just splurge and get some decent cable, and make the holes in my house bigger so I can keep on the factory ends. What would you guys recommend? Any reason to go with cat6 vs 5e?

 

[ddrueding]

No appreciable difference for GbE between 5e and 6. If there was a kink, the concern is that it damaged the cable, not that the kink slows communication. I would probably make a holes a bit bigger, and use great stuff to seal them up when you are installed.

 

[Bozo]

Have you checked the settings of the devices that the cable is connected to? Sometimes you need to set one device at Auto Negotiate and the others at 1000Gb. Or both at Auto. Or both at 1000Gb.

 

[Mercutio]

Possibly relevant to some peoples' interests. I'll put this link over in Tools as well.

 

[Howell]

If the wires other than 4/5 and 1/2 are damaged or swapped it might fall back from GigE to 100M. Maybe... I've never tried it.

 

[time]

If the cable came with fitted plugs, I'd assume that it's multi-strand and therefore not really suitable for a 100ft run. AFAIK, the standard only supports stranded cable up to 10 meters - at triple that you may be pushing your luck. Even if it works initially, it will likely degrade over time.

I'm not sure of the availability of plugs to suit solid core cable. The norm is to connect it to a socket at each end and leave the plugs to patch cables.

Any kinks can ruin a cable, it's fragile stuff.

 

[Adcadet]

I'll take a look at my DIR-655 to see about playing with auto-negotiate vs force GigE to see if that helps.

I think I've been lucky in the past, living in small places where I could get by with whatever kind of cables I wanted. Now that my network extends up a level I guess I need to pay more attention to what I'm doing. Baring a small miracle, I think I'll get 100' cat5e from monoprice and expand the holes in my house so the factory ends can fit through.

Thanks all!

 

[ddrueding]

There are special ends for solid cable, I use it for my outdoor antenna stuff.

 

[Handruin]

Is it not an option to use a CAT 5E keystone (or CAT 6 Keystone) and a 1 gang low voltage wall bracket, and a single-hole plate with a CAT 6 cable? How many feet of cable do you honestly need? I could figure out a way to send you the solid cable. I still have about 80' of CAT 6 solid Riser cable that I bought from monoprice.

Before you buy any keystones, maybe someone else here can share if a stranded cable can even be used with them. I assume they're meant for solid wire.

Total price:
CAT 5E Toolless Keystones (2) $2
or
CAT 6 Toolless Keystones (2) $3
1 gang bracket (2) $2
Wall plate (2) $1
CAT 6 cable (1) $12
or
CAT 5E (1) $9

You're looking at $17 + shipping for all the stuff and you can have it such that it's a nice wall plate. I would also use the 'great stuff' that David recommended to seal up the hole. Just be careful not to get any on you or on anything valuable...it's like super glue + expanding foam.

 

[Adcadet]

Well....ignorance, really. I've never seen how to properly wire a house. I'll think it over.

Really, any reason to use cat6 vs cat5e?

Now if only I could figure out how to run wire inside my walls so I could avoid the outside leg. I'm just now sure how to go down one wall ~10 feet, then over 20 feet, then up the wall to where I can get at the ceiling tiles, then over the ceiling. The previous owners resorted to running coaxial cable outside the house, hence the reason I have pre-made holes to work with.

Thanks!

 

[Handruin]

I was able to figure it out with help from others here in this thread. I used YouTube to watch how to wire the keystones. The part I can't really help with is running the wires through the walls since every home is a little different. You're also running a single wire which should be easier. If you're going to run one, it might not hurt to pull 2-3 through in case one doesn't work (as in your case).

Is there any reason to use CAT 6 vs CAT 5E...probably not. I chose CAT 6 because the cost difference was minimal and my hope was that with a tighter twist, there might be less chance of noise interfering with some of my longer runs through the walls. I wired 4 rooms, each with 4 cables in the wall plate, and my living room has 4 x CAT 6 on each wall in case we move furniture.

Cat5e vs Cat6

There is a great deal of debate among people about whether new cabling installations should use Cat5e or Cat6. Many people incorrectly assume that by running Cat6 they will then have a Gigabit Ethernet. However, in order to achieve true Gigabit Ethernet speeds, every single component on a network must be gigabit rated, such as the switches, hubs and network interface cards. This isn't to say that there aren't differences between Cat5e and Cat6, however. The general difference between category 5e and category 6 is in the transmission performance. While Cat5e can support gigabit speeds, Cat6 is certified to handle gigabit Ethernet. Additionally, the Cat6 specification is better suited toward environments that are generally unfriendly to twisted pair cabling. This includes areas that have lots of interference from things like power lines, lights, and manufacturing equipment. Still, for most applications, Cat5e is perfectly suitable and preferable to Cat6: it is more economical and performs almost as well. However, if you can be certain that all the components on your network are gigabit rated, and the volume of the data being transmitted calls for certified gigabit performance, then Cat6 is the way to go.

Source

Basically Cat 6 features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise. Also, if some day faster LAN speeds are possible, maybe my CAT 6 can connect at 10GBase-T.

You can also use conduit outside of the house if it doesn't offend you aesthetically.