long ethernet/cat5 cables

[dcw@pr]

what is the longest you can use without running into problems?

[agent006]

100 metres on standard Cat5. Cat5e can allegedly go to 150 but i've never managed to get it to work well.

[arcturus]

The spec says 100 metres is the recommended max length of a single cable segment. If you need to go further you can, but performance is not guaranteed.

If I need a long run of say 150m, I would arrange either to put a hub/switch at the halfway point or go wireless.

[dcw@pr]

thanks, that's good news, i wasn't expecting more than about 30m. cheers for the help.

[BliarOut]

The spec is actually 90M of installed building cable (Solid conductor) with two 5M (multistranded) flyleads I work for a cabling company

I didn't tell you this, but 10Meg Ethernet will run quite happily up to 185M on Cat5

It's even buried in the spec somewhere

[dcw@pr]

i guess building cable is something special, not the stuff you buy in PC World?

[BliarOut]

It's "just" single stranded as opposed to multicore. (Vast oversimplification, but you get the idea). Building cable is designed to be concealed in the fabric of a building while the stranded is more flexible and better suited to being a flylead.

[agent006]

Building cable is the annoying stuff that never stays flat on the floor when you're too tight to pay for proper patch leads.
Whenever i've tried to do long cable runs, it works for a while but will get occasional dropouts. Also vbery dependent on the quality of the NIC it's plugged into. Some tend to give up very easily but quality ones will work ok with a weaker signal.