Speed decreases with each cable termination - how bad is it?

[satindemon4u]

Hey guys, fun question for this fine morning; how negligible is the speed decrease in each termination of an Ethernet cable? Assuming of course that both ends (or all terminations for that matter) are terminated correctly. A friend and I were talking this morning and it prompted the question of just how much speed decrease you would see between terminations. Lets say from the router to your PC there were 4 terminations in place, would it make much of a difference?

Again, this is assuming that all terminations are done 100% correctly. Would it be noticeable or no?

 

[R00kie]

I would say negligible: in a school where I worked for IT, we had our access points set up through out the buildings, some of them had numerous hops before they reached the controller, and after all of that there was barely any speed degradation. But it was also overbuilt slightly, as we had switches on pretty much every termination.
So, long story short, it would depend how far your cable goes and how much you're willing to spend on it.

 

[jboydgolfer]

I would say negligible:

This^^ &
as far as i am aware, the degredation occurs over Long spans of Cable, or over poor quality connections

*edit*
your best bet it to use Quality cabling, and Quality Connections/Couplings. & remember that Cat splitters/Hubs/ethernet ports Can split signal down. so if you have a 100Mb/s then run into a Hub, Some can half that speed to 50Mb/s or atleast iirc.

 

[satindemon4u]

Here is why I ask, that same friend had the idea of being able to retract cable at a wall plate. So, you could pull the cable out of the wall and use it but also retract it when you didn't want it...

 

[Vayra86]

Here is why I ask, that same friend had the idea of being able to retract cable at a wall plate. So, you could pull the cable out of the wall and use it but also retract it when you didn't want it...

Ill tell you one thing, Cat5e really doesn't like moving around too much and bending even less so. It's a vulnerable cable unless you get a really pricy, well insulated cable. And a high quality cable will be thicker and more rigid too, so pulling it out of a wall will be that much more difficult.

There is a distinct reason wall ethernet sockets allow you to plug a separate cable. So will it work, yes, for how long, that's another question.

 

[satindemon4u]

Ill tell you one thing, Cat5e really doesn't like moving around too much and bending even less so. It's a vulnerable cable unless you get a really pricy, well insulated cable. And a high quality cable will be thicker and more rigid too, so pulling it out of a wall will be that much more difficult.

There is a distinct reason wall ethernet sockets allow you to plug a separate cable. So will it work, yes, for how long, that's another question.

Yeah, I tried to explain to him how bad of an idea I thought this was. He seems to think he is onto a million dollar idea though haha.

 

[Static~Charge]

There are two wire types for Ethernet cables: solid and stranded.

• A solid cable has one thicker strand of copper wire and is normally used for a run from the patch panel to the wall outlet. It transmits signals better over long distances but isn't very flexible and is more susceptible to breakage.

• A stranded cable has multiple small strands twisted together and is normally used as a patch cable (i.e., from the wall outlet to the computer). It doesn't transmits signals as well over long distances but is very flexible and not as susceptible to breakage.

Pulling a cable from the wall and retracting it into the wall will greatly increase the likelihood of breakage, regardless of which wire type it is. Coiling the cable too tightly will do this, too.

 

[OneMoar]

the issue with cable flex is that Ethernet is SOLID core wire which makes it brittle

I would't want to run stranded cable more then say 10 foot at 1000T speeds

 

[Deleted member 67555]

We actually make a 3 strand isolated conductor signal cable (6 total conductor) where I work...
I'm not sure what it's used for but it's made right next to a isolated twisted pair signal wire likely (cat6).....
The stuff sells for $.53 a foot and you can buy as little as 45,000'... LoL

I'll take a pic or video next time I'm over that way.. It's about a mile from the area I work in...

Edit:
I asked an engineer he said with cat5e you should be safe with 12 splits at about 500' of cat5e before you start to pickup chatter so long as you maintain solid connections.

 

[Komshija]

With every cable split you'll loose some speed, similar is with longer cables. These are very small losses, but still noticeable if you run a few tests. For instance, you should achieve slightly higher speed with 2m telephone cable than with 8m one and the same thing is with Ethernet cable.

 

[95Viper]

You could use something along the line as these, in different lengths and CAT5 to CAT7:

Amazon - retractable Ethernet cable
Newegg - retractable Ethernet cable
Google search for - retractable Ethernet cable

You could plug it in the wall and you have a retractable Ethernet cable or you could take it with you.
Belkin's have a lifetime warranty... get one with that and if it wears out... RMA that sucker.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Hey guys, fun question for this fine morning; how negligible is the speed decrease in each termination of an Ethernet cable? Assuming of course that both ends (or all terminations for that matter) are terminated correctly. A friend and I were talking this morning and it prompted the question of just how much speed decrease you would see between terminations. Lets say from the router to your PC there were 4 terminations in place, would it make much of a difference?

Again, this is assuming that all terminations are done 100% correctly. Would it be noticeable or no?

Speed isn't effected unless it auto negotiates 100 mbps (or god forbid, 10 mbps) instead of 1000 mbps. What it effects is error rates. There's a lovely chart here that shows this:
http://cablesondemandblog.com/wordpress1/cat5e-cat6-network-patch-cables/

Basically if it exceeds the given threshold, it's going to drop the signaling rate to reduce the error count.

On to your actual question: TIA says 3 terminations per maximum of 90 meter run (~300 feet).

Example:
Switch -> cable -> patch panel (here's one) -> cable -> female-female extender (here's number two and three) -> cable -> device

In most cases, you only have two:
switch -> cable -> wall plug (here's one) -> cable -> wall plug (here's another) -> cable -> device

An example that's not standard is taking my first example and adding a wall plug:
Switch -> cable -> patch panel (here's one) -> cable -> female-female extender (here's number two and three) -> cable -> wallplug (number four, not standard) -> cable -> device

If you're going into a powered switch, booster, or router that accepts the signal and rebroadcasts it, your termination counter is reset.


Solid cable is much better than stranded. If you're breaking solid cables, you're definitely doing it wrong.


Personally, I'd never use nor recommend retractable Ethernet cables. They fundamentally don't conform with the TIA/EIA standards (the pairs aren't supposed to be separated for more than about an inch and that is at termination points). How can they keep the pairs sufficiently twisted in a thin band of cable like that? Hint: they can't. You might be able to get away with it in CAT5e but CAT6 and CAT8 (CAT7 isn't a standard), watch out.