Long Ethernet Cable

[EricPezz]

I want to direct connect my PC to my router but it is very far way. I thought i could just buy a very long (150ft-200ft) ethernet cable, wire it, and be fine. Then i was told that the longer the wire is the weaker the connection is going to be. Does anyone know if that is true or not?

[Vbgf]

There is signal degredation, yes but it's probably not going to affect you much, and 50 meters should be fine.

[Guest]

Yes, due to voltage and current drop due to copper being an imperfect conductor, signal loss will occur. You should be okay to roughly 50m at up to 100mbit however gigabit on cat5e will end at about 30. I'd use Cat6.

[moimoi]

I want to direct connect my PC to my router but it is very far way. I thought i could just buy a very long (150ft-200ft) ethernet cable, wire it, and be fine. Then i was told that the longer the wire is the weaker the connection is going to be. Does anyone know if that is true or not?

 

Hi there, the answer is yes, the longer the cable, the weaker the connection is going to be. This has to do with resistance, the longer the wire the more it will resist electricity from flowing through the cable.

Here is a link to a more specific explanation about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistance#Relation_to_resistivity_and_conductivity

 

About the ethernet cable, I think that it is still not that much resistance that it will have such a big impact on connection quality, matter will get worse when you are running cables in a very very long distance.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

I want to direct connect my PC to my router but it is very far way. I thought i could just buy a very long (150ft-200ft) ethernet cable, wire it, and be fine. Then i was told that the longer the wire is the weaker the connection is going to be. Does anyone know if that is true or not?

Although it's true the resistance is so negligible. I've tested this with a 3ft cable I borrowed from my friend and with a 100ft cable my housemates had casually lying around when I moved in. Both cables gave me the full 50mbps down my ISP provides.

[menendez1293]

In theory yes there will be deterioration as you increase distance but for that short of a run you should be fine. My house is fully wired with Cat5e and I have about 100 ft in cable between my modem and PC and I get near Gigabit speeds when transferring internally to a NAS.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

Use Cat6 to get 1gbps at over 30 meters.

[79wjd]

You'll be fine. My computer is connected through cat5e with a 200ft wire and I'm getting full speeds.

[simtransporter]

Cat5e should be fine for up to 100m if the cable is well made.

Cat6 on the other hand has even better signal integrity over longer distances,  probably a bit overkill for most situations though.

[EricPezz]

thanks everyone, now i just have to figure out how im going to wire this cable

[FluffyPuffyTips]

There will be very low signal degrade as the resistance of copper is very low. It will still be much better than wireless.

[MrCthuntoo]

200ft will be fine, I think the maximmum rated length is 100 meters.

 

 

Just make sure you get decent quality cable, if you can afford it you may want to go for Cat6 cable instead.

[Scheer]

The max length on any of the wires is 100m, and Cat5e and better will carry 1 gbps at that distance.

 

Upgrade to Cat6 if you are running it near a lot of power (in a house you aren't... I mean a LOT of power.) I have 280' of Cat5e zip tied to metal conduit along the service entrance of a 400 amp panel for about 60', then zip tied to a conduit for 100 amp over near a welder for the majority of the remaining distance, and then it goes for a little ways on a conduit with some 20 amp circuits and into a switch. It has been like that for 4 years and I've never noticed any issues with speeds.

 

Upgrade to Cat6a if you want 10gbps in the future at that distance.

 

IIRC, Cat5e will carry 10gbps for 10m, Cat6 will carry it for 30m.

[Atlantisman]

CAT5e should be good at gig speeds for around 100 meters. After that it will degrade.

[Guest]

Upgrade to Cat6 if you are running it near a lot of power (in a house you aren't... I mean a LOT of power.) I have 280' of Cat5e zip tied to metal conduit along the service entrance of a 400 amp panel for about 60', then zip tied to a conduit for 100 amp over near a welder for the majority of the remaining distance, and then it goes for a little ways on a conduit with some 20 amp circuits and into a switch. It has been like that for 4 years and I've never noticed any issues with speeds.

 

You should use an STP (Shielded) cable instead of UTP for these kind of interferences.

[Atlantisman]

The max length on any of the wires is 100m, and Cat5e and better will carry 1 gbps at that distance.

 

Upgrade to Cat6 if you are running it near a lot of power (in a house you aren't... I mean a LOT of power.) I have 280' of Cat5e zip tied to metal conduit along the service entrance of a 400 amp panel for about 60', then zip tied to a conduit for 100 amp over near a welder for the majority of the remaining distance, and then it goes for a little ways on a conduit with some 20 amp circuits and into a switch. It has been like that for 4 years and I've never noticed any issues with speeds.

 

Upgrade to Cat6a if you want 10gbps in the future at that distance.

 

IIRC, Cat5e will carry 10gbps for 10m, Cat6 will carry it for 30m.

Ethernet cable shouldn't be ran along side high-voltage wiring, unless shielded.

[dragoon20005]

also only ground 1 side for shielded cables

 

grounding both sides will make the shielding null and void and turn it into a fire hazard

[skywake]

Cat5e: 1Gbps @ 100m

Cat6: 10Gbps @ 55m

Cat6a: 10Gbps @ 100m

[AndersT2]

All network outputs that are made right follow a spesification, this calls for the signal to work at 90 meter + 2 patchcords at each end at 5meter, for a totalt of 100meters between sockets.

 

I have used a 124 meter long Cat 5 cable once, which worked fine, even if it was laying next to 230v cables all the way. But at 134 meters it didn't work. Solution, but a switch at 124 meters, and the rest of the length then wasn't a problem.

[Cwazywazy]

You'll be fine. My ethernet cable is something like 50 feet. (Maybe more. I forget.)

 

The only reason it runs at 100MBs and not 1Gbps is because I have to use an old PCI ethernet card because the onboard Realtek crapped out. (Stuck in deep sleep mode.) Still better than WiFi.