Help with network cables

[Jmacp]

I had a question about which cable to use to connect one building to another newtork 700m away, which kind of cable to use, the answer with fibre optic, you also had a choice of cat5 stp, cat5 utp and coaxial. So what did they do in the days before fire optic cables just use cat5's + hubs?

[chris128]

I think cat5 ethernet cables only work properly when they are less than 100m long, not sure about cat6. I know at one of our sites we use a Line Of Sight system to connect two networks that are around 300m away from each other, it basically sits high up on top of the roof of each building and uses some kind of infrared connection between the two. Of course it wouldnt work if a new building was built between the two as there would be no straight line between each of the buildings but it works fine for now

[JuggaloBrotha]

i would get a series of ethernet repeaters instead of hubs/switches, since all you want to do is simply repeat the packets down the line.

Also Ethernet (cat3, 5/5e, 6, 7) all work up to 300 feet (~91 meters) and I recommend (because of cable quality) that you put a router, hub, switch or repeater every 275 feet.

Another option is wireless (infrared counts as wireless) but you get into the whole direct line of sight and security issues with that.

[Jmacp]

Thanks.

Also what about coaxial cable from what i read it's not as good as cat5 ++. So why does my ISP still use coaxial cable(well they do at least from modem to wall socket), maybe they have fibres outide under the ground i don' know. So is coaxial on it's way out?

[chris128]

I'm not too sure about coaxial I'm afraid but as for why your ISP still uses it, its probably because 1. they will of been using it for years so everything is already setup to use it and 2. its cheaper than fibre

[dbasnett]

RG58 was used, and was OK up to about 500 feet. the big orange cables were good for 1500 feet.

i am betting that you have a cable ISP (COMCAST?) and the coax is from the same line that feeds your TV's.

[Jmacp]

RG58 was used, and was OK up to about 500 feet. the big orange cables were good for 1500 feet.

i am betting that you have a cable ISP (COMCAST?) and the coax is from the same line that feeds your TV's.

I am actually in the UK and use virgin cable, virgin beging a TV cable provider as well like comcast.

As far as i can see cat5/5e is cheaper than coax and also higher bandwith so why ever use coax in the first place.?

[dilettante]

The cable TV coax is carrying multipoint broadband analog signals. Effectively an isolated RF "space" where any frequencies can be used without interfering with free space signals.

"Ethernet" twisted pair cables are a baseband signaling medium dedicated to a single function between two points. There so many wires because it dedicates a pair to each transmission direction.

The two media serve different purposes.

[Jmacp]

Thanks i got it now.

[dbasnett]

cable companies allocate some of the "channels" to carry data. some amount of channels for downstream (towards the subscriber) and some amount for the upstream (towards the head end).

[chris128]

"Ethernet" twisted pair cables are a baseband signaling medium dedicated to a single function between two points. There so many wires because it dedicates a pair to each transmission direction.

All I know is you only need 2 of those pairs for network data transmission to work The orange pair and the green pair I think. Not that anyone cares haha what a pointless post.

[dbasnett]

but the other pairs help in shielding, especially at higher data rates. always use 4 pair cables.

[chris128]

Yeah I wasnt suggesting getting rid of them lol just saying that you dont HAVE to crimp them in when connecting RJ45 heads to ethernet cables (although its always a good idea and you would be daft not to really)

[dbasnett]

you don't want to know how many ethernet cables i have made in my career, but believe me it is actually easier to put ends on with all of the wires.

[chris128]

Yeah I know, thats why I said you would be daft not to