How long a network cable can be ?

By shadowless911
in Smart Home, Network & Security

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Rising Star

dieterich

Posted
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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.

It'll also be expensive when someone digs that fiber up and cuts it by accident.... :cry:

Is the cable a straight run and do you have line of sight? I'd get a directional antenna and go wireless. Could take a little more to setup, but might save you some time and money.

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gadgetnut

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It'll also be expensive when someone digs that fiber up and cuts it by accident.... :cry:

Is the cable a straight run and do you have line of sight? I'd get a directional antenna and go wireless. Could take a little more to setup, but might save you some time and money.

Hi Guys, yes, good point about eventually digging through/damaging the conduit + fiber optic cable... with future repairs, additions there's a good chance this conduit could be disturbed because everything has to fit through a narrow pass where a lot of underground utilities pass fairly close (15 feet) to each other (domestic water, irrigation water, public utilities, etc.).

Yes, I have straight runs to the buildings I want to serve, and yes I have line of sight to both buildings. I originally considered a wireless network but I went to all this conduit burying trouble because I wanted the speed and reliability of a hard wired network.

Interestingly, both of these buildings are wired for service from Comcast, my ISP. I could purchase separate internet service for each building and acheive my network results over the internet, but that involves the monthly cost of two more internet services, in addition to the one at my home.

My setup is this: along the conduit run, cottage is about 450 feet away from main house computer room. From that cottage is another 400 foot conduit run to the shop/barn. Is it unrealistic to think I could run 450 feet of Cat5e UTP from main house to cottage, then put a hub there and run one additional 400 foot Cat5e UTP from cottage to shop/barn and have it all work? Thanks.

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gadgetnut

Posted
Posted

Short answer? Yes, that is unrealistic.

Okay. Back to Fiber Optic or Wireless. Regarding Fiber Optic, can anyone steer me towards the fiber optic cable and adapters I would need (and where to buy) so I can get an idea of cost? I imagine the fiber optic cable is the expensive part, then you need adapters at the beginning and end of the run to convert back to RJ-45 jacks so I can plug into my ethernet switch. Will the fiber optic connected computers network seamlessly w/ my ethernet connected computers?

Regarding Wireless, I will need to get a grasp on speed, reliability, and cost-- rather than highjacking this thread, I will search here for more info.

Grand Master

Fred Derf Veteran

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My setup is this: along the conduit run, cottage is about 450 feet away from main house computer room. From that cottage is another 400 foot conduit run to the shop/barn. Is it unrealistic to think I could run 450 feet of Cat5e UTP from main house to cottage, then put a hub there and run one additional 400 foot Cat5e UTP from cottage to shop/barn and have it all work? Thanks.

802.11n may be able to do that. Especially in a area that may not be crammed with 2.4GHz transmissions. That depends, however, on trees and things like that.

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