modem cable question

[RodClutcher]

hi so i bought a extension cable to go from my wall plug to the back of my nbn modem but when i had it connected it didn't work . did i order the wrong cored . ?? if so what sort should i of ordered link to the one i bought

Telephone Home Phone Cord Cable Plug Extension For ADSL2 ADSL | Filter Modem Fax | eBay

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www.ebay.com.au

this is my modem https://support.tpg.com.au/set-nbn-fttc#VR1600v

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Did you restart the modem and your PC?

can check if the modem connected, go into the admin panel, home panel should say if connected. If thats true its your PC connectivity.

 

[RodClutcher]

Did you restart the modem and your PC?

can check if the modem connected, go into the admin panel, home panel should say if connected. If that's true its your PC connectivity.

i restarted modem and pc at the time to no luck .
looking at my old cord it hads 2 inner wires . the new one has 4 inner wires . im now thinking maybe the wall socket is connected wrong and the other two wires are causing issue or just wrong cord but i dont see why it would matter 2 vs 4 inner wires if data is only being sent over the two most inner wires on the connectors

 

[Bill_Bright]

Two wires for phone service to the wall outlet is standard for most homes. Four wires is standard for most telephone cables just in case the building has two separate phone lines. Or in case the dog or other 4-legged critters chew through one, you can just rewire the connectors instead of pulling all new cable. So that is not your problem here.

I learned long ago it is best to make my own cables. Those RJ-11 telephone cable connectors (as well as the similar RJ-45 network cable connectors) are cheap, flimsy, easily damaged, but extremely critical devices. The connectors on factory made cables frequently are poorly crimped during assembly. And they rarely are ever tested for quality assurance before leaving the factory. So I make my own, then I always test them with a suitable cable tester to make sure my crimps were good too.

I would try a different cable. But... read on.

Your link goes to a 20M (65.6 ft) cable. Is that really what you got? Do you really need that long of a cable? While "in theory" it should work, typically with high-speed data cables, the shorter the better. This is not just to minimize data loss through simple friction/latency, but longer cables are simply exposed to more potential physical abuse. But also, and perhaps more significantly here, the longer the cable the more susceptible the cable is to EMI/RFI.

To mitigate EMI/RFI, "unshielded twisted pair" or "UTP" cable is typically what is used inside walls, and in better extension cables. The twists cause the conducting wires in the cable to cross over each other and that has the effect of cancelling out unwanted interference.

For longer distances or in higher EMI/RFI environments, "shieled twisted pair" or "STP" cable is often used. Going by the description and graphics of your cable, it is just a standard, flat cable that is neither twisted nor shielded. Standard flat phone extensions are typically just fine for short distances - especially for standard (low-bandwidth) voice. But may not be for longer high-bandwidth, high-speed data transmission.

So if me, for testing purposes, I would move all my hardware as close to the wall outlet as possible, then try a much shorter cable. If it works then, you know that new cable is causing the problems.

 

[OkieDan]

If things work when modem is near the wall jack (phone outlet) using a shorter cable I'd just leave the modem there and run a Cat5 patch cable (stranded copper) from the modem to the PC. If you later decided, you could convert that Cat5 into a high quality phone cable with some RJ11+RJ45 crimpers and RJ11 plugs if you really wanted to, though I'd keep the modem close to the wall jack if possible.

In the past when I had internet provided over DSL or Cable I'd always try to get my modem as close as possible to the outside entry point from the provider and run Ethernet from there to ensure the best quality service. Don't forget to have line filters for any other devices in your house that plug into a phone jack, including security systems. In the early 2000s I had cell phone and no home phone so I disconnected all house phone wiring at the outdoor dmarc except for the room my ADSL modem was in, even ran a Cat5 wired as RJ11 out to the dmarc through a window for a week or two for troubleshooting.

 

[RodClutcher]

cables are both same length 20m . all i was doing was changing it to a new one . the old cable is like old af and has been walked on and stuff over the years etc must be a bad crimp as bill bright said poorly crimped during assembly

 

[Bill_Bright]

I agree, if possible, leave the modem as close to the PoE (point of entry) into the home as possible, then go Ethernet from there. However, definitely go with Cat5e or Cat6. Not Cat5.

Sadly, their similar names are often confused and/or many simply forget there is a difference and mistakenly say 5 when they really mean 5e. I suspect this simple mistake is what happened above.

But despite their similar names and near identical appearance, Cat5 and Cat5e are very different.

While both Cat5 and Cat5e support frequencies up to 100MHz, Cat5 has a maximum top speed of only 100Mbps. Cat5e supports up to 1000Mbps (1Gbit). Cat5e also is much better at suppressing crosstalk and interference, which is particularly important for long runs.

If I were to install new or replace any old Ethernet cable today, I would go with Cat6 which can support frequencies up to 250MHz and speeds up to 10 Gbit. I might even go with Cat6a if the price was good that day. Cat7 is here but I'll probably die of old age before that becomes the industry standard - if it ever does. If curious, and want more info on Cat7, see What is Cat7 - and why you don't need it.

cables are both same length 20m . all i was doing was changing it to a new one . the old cable is like old af and has been walked on and stuff over the years etc must be a bad crimp as bill bright said poorly crimped during assembly

So the old cable worked fine and you were just replacing it as a proactive measure? Nothing wrong with that since you indicated it saw a lot of foot traffic. If the old cable worked and the new one didn't, then clearly there is a defect in the new one.

If you cannot avoid running the cable where it is exposed to foot traffic, I would urge you to put it under a floor cable protector. This is not just to protect the cable from being constantly crushed (which eventually breaks down the insulation), but the protector helps to prevent the cable from being a tripping hazard or getting thrashed by a vacuum cleaner.

Running cables under a rug or carpet is not recommended either. Stepped on cables are still crushed against the hard floor. Excessive heat, or worse, fire is not a problem with data cables, but can be with power. So never run power cables under rug - even if not exposed to foot traffic.