How long a network cable can be ?

[shadowless911]

I was wondering how long a network cable can be on a 10/100 baseT network ?..and If I want to exceed that limit should I hook it up with a switch or something as was said to me ?...thanx in advance

[tylerm]

how far are you trying to run it? The longest cable i have ever had was 100 ft. i couldnt tell a difference. it worked fine.

*I wouldnt recommend running it down the street to your buddy's house.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I was wondering how long a network cable can be on a 10/100 baseT network ?..and If I want to exceed that limit should I hook it up with a switch or something as was said to me ?...thanx in advance

I googled "ethernet maximum length" to get:

Gigabit Ethernet (over copper), 1000baseT

Speed: 1000 Mbps Max Len: 100 Meters Cable: UTP, RJ-45 connectors

Fast Ethernet, 100baseT

Speed: 100 Mbps Max Len: 100 Meters Cable: UTP, RJ-45 connectors

Twisted Pair Ethernet, 10baseT

Speed: 10 Mbps Max Len: 100 Meters Cable: UTP, RJ-45 connectors

[tylerm]

I googled "ethernet maximum length" to get:

Gigabit Ethernet (over copper), 1000baseT

Speed: 1000 Mbps Max Len: 100 Meters Cable: UTP, RJ-45 connectors

Fast Ethernet, 100baseT

Speed: 100 Mbps Max Len: 100 Meters Cable: UTP, RJ-45 connectors

Twisted Pair Ethernet, 10baseT

Speed: 10 Mbps Max Len: 100 Meters Cable: UTP, RJ-45 connectors

Thats ounds about right. Thereotically you could probably go even farther if you used cat6 fiber optic. not positive on that though

[Julius Caro]

I suppose they can be VERY long. I think I had a cable around 15-20m, worked perfectly

[shadowless911]

I suppose they can be VERY long. I think I had a cable around 15-20m, worked perfectly

lol..sure 20 metres is very short...

on the other hand I heard about the 100 metres..and my friend has 100 metres exactly from hi PC to the switch...and the connection is very slow and sometimes just hangs there without any respone when browsing..so my question now is there any way to add more strength to the signal so the connection can be reasonably fast ?

[Fred Derf Veteran]

lol..sure 20 metres is very short...

on the other hand I heard about the 100 metres..and my friend has 100 metres exactly from hi PC to the switch...and the connection is very slow and sometimes just hangs there without any respone when browsing..so my question now is there any way to add more strength to the signal so the connection can be reasonably fast ?

I've done distances that were at least close to 100m before and it worked fine. Maybe your friend's cable was damaged or not crimped properly.

[Zirus]

I have a fancy cable tester from Fluke Networks at work, and we have ONE cable run that exceeds the maximum distance for Cat5 @ 100Mbps. In order to get this connection to work we have to force the NIC to 10Mbps. The cable tester says the cable is 148m long. The maximum for 100 Mbps is 100m.

So, if you have to exceed the maximum, you're going to have problems, but you could possibly use a slower speed on the nic, and function OK.

[Sophism]

The maximum length is 100 meters though i wouldnt recommend anything over 90 meters.

[shadowless911]

Ok I thank all of whom told me the maximum..But I want to know what to do know to strength the signal even move to be normal..I heard that I should hook up a switch in the middle between the original switch and the PC ..please any advice will be much appreciated cause I don't intend to throw 100 metres of cable :D..

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Ok I thank all of whom told me the maximum..But I want to know what to do know to strength the signal even move to be normal..I heard that I should hook up a switch in the middle between the original switch and the PC ..please any advice will be much appreciated cause I don't intend to throw 100 metres of cable :D..

Sure, stick a switch in the middle. Personally, I'd re-crimp the ends first.

If there is damage to the cable (hidden in a wall somewhere) then that switch may not help.

[Sophism]

100 meters is what is stated in most texts, but 90 meters is what is used in the industry make sure that the plastic covering the wire is against the end of the RJ45 connector and that the wires arent untwisted, believe it or not a little bit of untwist can cause crosstalk wich will cause network errors and other wierd issues.

[Zirus]

Sure, stick a switch in the middle. Personally, I'd re-crimp the ends first.

If there is damage to the cable (hidden in a wall somewhere) then that switch may not help.

Excellent advice. Any time I've had a problem with the network cable that has been good for months (years?) It is usually at one of the ends. A bad module, rj-45 etc. It is typically not in the middle of the cable, unless something like a rat chewed on it.

Recrimping the ends has always solved my problems.

If the cable still does not work you could get a cable analyzer to tell you exactly what is wrong with the cable.

100 meters is what is stated in most texts, but 90 meters is what is used in the industry make sure that the plastic covering the wire is against the end of the RJ45 connector and that the wires arent untwisted, believe it or not a little bit of untwist can cause crosstalk wich will cause network errors and other wierd issues.

90 Meters is what is used in the industry because they like to allow some distance for the patch cable from the wall to the device.

[shadowless911]

Ok I thank all of whom told me the maximum..But I want to know what to do know to strength the signal even move to be normal..I heard that I should hook up a switch in the middle between the original switch and the PC ..please any advice will be much appreciated cause I don't intend to throw 100 metres of cable :D..

[Edrick Smith]

Thats ounds about right. Thereotically you could probably go even farther if you used cat6 fiber optic. not positive on that though

Did you mean Cat6 or Fiber :-P?

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Ok I thank all of whom told me the maximum..But I want to know what to do know to strength the signal even move to be normal..I heard that I should hook up a switch in the middle between the original switch and the PC ..please any advice will be much appreciated cause I don't intend to throw 100 metres of cable :D..

You posted that same message 25 minutes before. Please do not SPAM and please do not bump your own threads.

[trey.bolinger]

350 feet of Cat-5. Thats the maximum I am aware of. We're running maybe 250 feet of outdoor cat-5 to connect things from the inside of a server room, to outside on a tower, and we don't have anything else in between, just the switch, to the device.

[+BudMan MVC]

lol..sure 20 metres is very short...

on the other hand I heard about the 100 metres..and my friend has 100 metres exactly from hi PC to the switch...and the connection is very slow and sometimes just hangs there without any respone when browsing..so my question now is there any way to add more strength to the signal so the connection can be reasonably fast ?

100 meters "exactly" huh? Where is this PC "exactly"? I find it highly unlikey a HOME machine would have a 100 meter run.. where is this switch in the house next to his? 100 meters is 328 FEET, thats longer than a football field.. Your friend has a run longer than a football field in his house? Pretty big house your friend has - with that size of house, you would think he could afford to have a tech come in and correct any network issues he might be having.

Are you sure his issues are related to the length of the run? have you moved his machine closer to the switch, say using a 7 or 14 foot cable?

Have you looked at his connection stats? netstat -s

Does this show alot of errors? Where is the inet connection from the switch?

[dieterich]

I always hate those "friends" that everyone has. You know the one. They're always in some kind of predicament that they can't get out of themselves. In fact, they are so stupid most times that they couldn't find the beach if standing on the shore.

Budman's right. 100m is the limit without a repeater or some kind of device. He's most likely right in that your friend doesn't need to run 100m of cable in his house either. Does he live in the Biltmore mansion? Oh, maybe it's a castle somewhere.... Send pics if it's either.

[+BudMan MVC]

Does he live in the Biltmore mansion? Oh, maybe it's a castle somewhere.... Send pics if it's either.

Must be something like that.. even a 7500 square foot house.. which is HUGE!! Would normally not be larger than say 120 feet in any one direction.. Most likely less than that.. here your at less than 90 feet from one side of the house to the other..

100 meters (328 feet) - that switch must be couple houses down? :laugh: Maybe its a real weird shaped house 500 ft long x 5 feet wide?

I think we are talking 100FT cat 5 cable, not meters, which is well under the max limit..

[andy2004]

Its 100m between network components. Eg you can have a newtork switch > 100m cable > network switch > 100m cable etc.

[Edrick Smith]

Alright heres what you need.

A all fiberoptic network so that means run fiber optic cable to every computer in the house. Go out and buy a Cisco Router around 3 grand and some type of Cisco Fiber switch another few grand. Configure that and your set.?

[eeban]

I used to run networking cables for a job. 300ft was the agreed upon maximum length of networking cables. Using longer cables may work, but data integrity may lower substantially.

Alright heres what you need.

A all fiberoptic network so that means run fiber optic cable to every computer in the house. Go out and buy a Cisco Router around 3 grand and some type of Cisco Fiber switch another few grand. Configure that and your set.

<-That's awesome. Definitely in range for home users ;)

[gadgetnut]

Hello, Everyone, Gadgetnut here, first time. Followup please on this topic: I need to extend my home network to a cottage 500 feet away from my home and to a shop building 900 feet away from my home. I just finished installing 1000 feet of 1 1/4 inch buried conduit, and I was imagining fast ethernet would be no problem at those lengths, but reading here, it sounds like that won't work. The distance between buildings runs thru grass and trees, so there's no convenient dry place + power outlet to install an ethernet repeater at the 300 foot mark... Ideas? Is fiber optic the only solution, and does that necessarily cost thousands?? Thank you for your help. --Gadgetnut

[Edrick Smith]

No fiber doesn't cost thousands persay. There is a setup where you can run a fiber optic cable through the counduit and use some type of Fiber to ethernet converison box on the other end. The expensive part is going to be the cable.?