Home network question

[Solaris17]

You know, I never really gave it much thought what cables I've been using all these years.

The short one is OLD. Been using it .... oh, I can't even remember how long now.

Cool, learned something new today!

What is Cat-5e 4 PR 24 (UL) CMX-Outdoor/CMR 340 8 H? This means it's the "good stuff"??
edit:
Looking it up quickly, the 24 is the gauge. What's with all the rest of the numbers?

they are specification specific. That is CMR which is outdoor cable. It’s not bad but is generally more and harder to work with in some edge cases because of the cladding. Normal cat5 indoor should more than suffice for any indoor or even in wall installation.

to be honest go to mono price and but some pre made booted cable in any color under the sun pre made to the size you need.

 

[bonehead123]

What is Cat-5e 4 PR 24 (UL) CMX-Outdoor/CMR 340 8 H? This means it's the "good stuff"??
edit:Looking it up quickly, the 24 is the gauge. What's with all the rest of the numbers?

See the attached pdf, which is from one of the commercial cable suppliers that my company uses. It may be "industrial grade", but it is the thinnest, cheapest version of that. It is usually chosen and preferred by commercial installers for 2 reasons:

A) Being so thin, it is easy to pull it through walls, conduit and patch cabinets. AND

B) Being so small in diameter, you can pull alot of strands of it through each wall or run of conduit, and/or you can use smaller diameter conduit for a given run, which reduces the materials & labor costs of each pull, which in turn increases the profit made on each job.

For home use, this won't mean much, however, for large commercial/industrial projects that may require 100's of thousands of feet of cable, minimizing/controlling the cost of materials & the labor to install them is a top priority.

Therefore, I would recommend you only use normal "consumer-grade" cables in your home, which are normally thicker (18, 16 or 14 gauge) and more closely aligned with it's intended usage scenario: indoors, in walls/ceilings etc at 100' or less with near-constant transmission speeds and minimal interference without having to be protected by conduit or excessive & expensive shielding.

 

[newtekie1]

How can I sustain a speed test at such high speeds if this cable is only supportive of 100mb/s? Doesn't a lot of that have to do with length of the cable?

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need Cat5e to get Gigabit and you don't need Cat6 to get 10Gbit. Cat5 will work at gigabit over a short distance(under ~10ft in my experience) as long as it is a 4-pair cable(some cat 5 is 2-pair and will only do 100Mbit). Cat5e on the other hand, I've seen handle 10Gbit over a 100ft cable.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Because the length is so short.

Right. Plus the cable must have good terminations (crimped on connectors), and the cable is not near another source of EMI/RFI.

I worded it wrong in my first post. The CAT-5 specification does not say "up to" 100Mbps. It says "100Mbps or more" with lengths up to 100m (~300ft). But those are under ideal conditions.

But the point I was making is still valid. You were going to run new cable into the boys room. I would not run out and replace your current CAT-5 but for sure any new cable you buy and install should be at least CAT-5e.

Speaking of connectors, it should be noted a poor crimp can ruin a good cable. And sadly many factory made are have poor crimps and typically are not tested before being packaged for sell. Plus, even quality cables are easily damaged by a single excessive yank, or trip-over.

I make my own cables. IMO, its the only way to go. But it is important to "invest" in a quality crimping tool to ensure you get a quality crimp each time. Good electrical connections require good mechanical connections first. I wasted a lot a time, money and connectors by buying a cheap crimping tool - twice.

There are other advantages to making your own cables. If you need a 16 foot cable, you can make a 16 foot cable instead of buying a 25 foot cable. If you need an 18 inch cable to go between your router and your modem, make one. No need to contribute to the rats nest of excessive cables behind the desk.

When pulling cables through walls, floors and ceilings, you need a much smaller hole when there's no connector on the end. Plus no worries about damaging the connector while pulling the cable.

So IMO, investing in a quality crimping tool is worth the investment. Also, even if you buy factory made cables, a decent cable tester is affordable and invaluable at saving time, lowering blood pressure, and preventing excessive hair loss.

For those considering making your own cables, be prepared to sacrifice a few connectors and a few feet of cable practicing first. Good light and a shot of Jack to steady the hands will help too.

 

[Deleted member 185158]

Thank you all for the explanations.
I have a way better understanding of the differences of Cat5 Cat5e.

Think Bill is onto something, I should make my own cables (next time when need be) I'll definitely reference this thread in the future and it will help me give suggestions to people as well as make good decisions with cabling.

You guys are awesome! Thank you. (And Happy New year btw!)