100mbit through 80m cat6 cable

[Andrew Back]

Hey guys!
Need some help from tech savvy people.

I wanted to get decent internet to another building located in my garden, so I dug a small trench, put a conduit in ground, put inside 80 meters of cat6 ftp cable and thought I was ready to go.

The problem is that I only get 100mbit on the end, though I have a 250mbit internet.

 

So connecting my router to my PC via short cable gives 250mbit, connecting same router with same PC via 80m cat6 cable gives 100mbit.
 
My first idea was that 1 of 4 pairs in cable is physically damaged and thus I get limited to 100mbit (94- 98 Mbit in speedtest.org. no more no less with good ping). I bought a cheap cable tester, as in picture, and it showed me that both wires were terminated in correct order and signal goes through all 8 of them.

My second idea was that my router TP-Link Archer C6 gave out very weak signal that was not able to travel for 80m, but from what I read online it is not that likely if wire is less than 100m. So not sure if buying new router would change anything.

Any idea how that can be solved? What could be an issue?

[Donut417]

8 minutes ago, Andrew Back said:

Any idea how that can be solved? What could be an issue?

Check the device or devices connected to the Ethernet cabling and see if they are set right. I know some times in Windows auto negotiation doesnt work right. So you might have to manually set the connection speed. If you have any switches between the cabling from the house and the machines your trying to connect, verify they are gigabit capable. 

[Andrew Back]

@Donut417Both my laptop (used multiple) and router are gigabit capable. No device in between, like switches.

 

Router >> 3m patch cable >> PC- 250mbit

Router >> 80m cat6 cable >> PC- 100mbit

Edited July 4, 2021 by Andrew Back

[Donut417]

3 minutes ago, Andrew Back said:

are gigabit capable

Some times things get borked and your network card doesnt negotiate to the right speeds. You can go in to your network card settings and see if forcing Gigabit works. 

[mariushm]

Make sure the order of the wires is the correct one. It matters. 

The cable tester will only test if the colors are in the same order on both connectors, not if each color is in the right slot.

 

Use either one of the below on both connectors of the cable. T568B is more common and more used by patch cable manufacturers.

 

Also just in case you're using CCA cable (copper clad aluminum), which is poorer quality and has higher resistance therefore needs more power to send data, go in your device manager on your network card, properties, advanced properties, and set all the power saving featurs (ex green ethernet etc) to Disable. Your network card will consume half a watt to a watt more power but send the data through the cable at full power.

 

 

[Andrew Back]

@mariushm Thank you a lot. I just checked cable specs and it indeed is CCA

Did not know I had to look at something else but cat 6 certification when I bought it.

 

So if I am planning to put router on each end, I can try to turn off power saving settings on both, right? Anything else I can try?

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, Andrew Back said:

So if I am planning to put router on each end, I can try to turn off power saving settings on both, right? Anything else I can try?

Its generally a bad idea to connect to routers together. 1 the second router will kinda become its own network. 2 you will have double NAT and that can be a pain in some cases. Best practice would be to connect a network switch. If you need WiFi you can use a AP. 

 

Some routers can be used in AP mode, but not all of them do this. If you can get a router in AP mode then you can connect a second router and switch it to AP mode. But you dont want two routers doing NAT connected in series. 

[mariushm]

Yeah, you only need cat5e for gigabit.

cat5e is good for up to 2.5gbps if it's proper solid or stranded core copper wire, and with the network card or interfaces that support the recent 2.5gbps standard.

cat6 can do 10gbps for around 50 meters, 1 or 2.5gbps otherwise.

 

Routers/switches  should be powerful enough to work with the cable.

 

All i can suggest is to buy some proper pure copper ethernet cable and use those 80 meters at something else.

[Zingiber]

32 minutes ago, Andrew Back said:

@mariushm Thank you a lot. I just checked cable specs and it indeed is CCA

Did not know I had to look at something else but cat 6 certification when I bought it.

 

So if I am planning to put router on each end, I can try to turn off power saving settings on both, right? Anything else I can try?

It's not Cat 6 spec cable if it's CCA, it has to be copper. Unfortunately most online sellers lie regarding this.

 

Cat 5e will do gigabit fine, it'll even do 2.5gbit and 5gbit. It's only at 10gbit where you need Cat 6A cable. Just make sure it's pure copper, not CCA.

[Andrew Back]

Damn, that is criminal. I just checked most e shops in my country and most cables are CCA and almost none of them have that in description, there just written cat6 or cat5e 

[Donut417]

17 minutes ago, Andrew Back said:

Damn, that is criminal. I just checked most e shops in my country and most cables are CCA and almost none of them have that in description, there just written cat6 or cat5e 

Ill be honest, considering the cabling is running outside, if it were me, Id probably just have pulled Fiber between the two buildings and use Media converters on each end. This way if lightning were to strike, no issues with equipment being destroyed. 

[mariushm]

37 minutes ago, Andrew Back said:

Damn, that is criminal. I just checked most e shops in my country and most cables are CCA and almost none of them have that in description, there just written cat6 or cat5e 

and what country would that be?

There's plenty of online distributors of electronic components that also stock ethernet cables. There's also telecommunication stores that stock ethernet cable.

Don't limit yourself to "computer parts stores"

 

Some stores that have ethernet cable

 

Digikey : https://www.digikey.com/short/93z9dnbh (filtered for cat5e and higher, 250'/75m or longer spools)  - double check datasheets, make sure they're not CCA (shouldn't be)

 

Mouser : https://mou.sr/3AuU5t6

 

Newark / Farnell (same company, different brands in regions of world) :  AGAIN , pay attention to datasheets, some of the cheapest cables MAY BE CCA

Networking Cable | Newark  (mostly for US and Canada)

Networking Cable | Farnell UK  (mostly for UK and Europe, choose language)

 

TME.EU (for mostly EU countries) : loong ass link

 

 

 

 

[Andrew Back]

@mariushm I am from Latvia (EU). If you know what to look for, you can find it. Will not get into this trap next time thanks to you. But selling "cat6" CCA that are so bad is shady. In many reputable online store there were even many very expensive CCA cables 

[CerealExperimentsLain]

5 hours ago, Andrew Back said:

So if I am planning to put router on each end, I can try to turn off power saving settings on both, right? Anything else I can try?

Why?  Assuming you're using it as, well, a router.  That's a double NAT.  Why bother?  Or are you going to disable that and just use it for it's Switch?