CAT5 - Network Cable - questions

Mp4

Mp4

Mp4

Soldato
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Hi all,

After having a battle trying to get wireless to the back of the house (and faling to do so)

Decided to do the main way. CAT5 from the router and trail it outside and along the wall its about 33-40meters (max)

Will the cable be okay outside? I've seen some heavy duty CAT5 cable on auction but a lot more expensive but can reach to speeds 10/100/1000 etc

As this is going to be fixed for life i want to make sure its a good job :)
 
jellybeard999 said:
You can get specific outdoor cable, or you could run normal cable in a conduit of some kind?
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Can't really do a conduit as we can't bury it ( where the cable is going is down a solid concreet driveway.) will have to tap it to the outside wall.

any idea where to get the specific outdoor cable?
 
I've run bare CAT5 outside before now tacked to an outside wall. It's certainly not reccomended but did seem to be fine. God knows how long it will last and what other potential negative factors might happen though.

If you get some small bore outside pipe conduit, you can attach that to an outside wall? I once had some black stuff which was fairly similar to plastic plumbing piping and I just used a vacumn cleaner to pull a string through its length then pulled the cable through with the string.
 
Mp4 said:
As this is going to be fixed for life i want to make sure its a good job :)
Click to expand...
In that case, definitely go for the CAT6 or above....

1) for the reason given above (shielding)
2) for the fact that internet speeds are only gonna get faster... and sooner or later cat 5 is gonna seem slow.
 
cat 6 e was the thicker one and more tightly wound so should do better against temperature / water extremes and any distance you wanted it to go

cat 7 is thinner but each wire is shielded in tinfoil like stuff, aswel as tightly wound.

if it was me i would go for cat 6 e as it looks a beasty cable in comparison to cat 7 or cat 6
 
Evil-I said:
I've run bare CAT5 outside before now tacked to an outside wall. It's certainly not reccomended but did seem to be fine. God knows how long it will last and what other potential negative factors might happen though.

If you get some small bore outside pipe conduit, you can attach that to an outside wall? I once had some black stuff which was fairly similar to plastic plumbing piping and I just used a vacumn cleaner to pull a string through its length then pulled the cable through with the string.
Click to expand...

yeah i've done the same.

when i was at uni, we all lived fairly close to each other so we just ran normal cat 5 between the houses, it was fine and lasted for the year we was in the house.

my mates done it to his neighbour before as well, and that was up for years without a problem.


its not designed for outdoor use, but its generally ok.

cat 6/7 would be better, but more expensive
 
cat5 should be fine outside if you want to protect it from water then buy some amalgamating tape it's normally used to protect connectors that go to sky dish but can work to cover the whole cable an IT Tec I used to work with always used it for outside cables and never had any problems.
 
Doh i wish i had read this sooner :/ gone and bought cat5 cable even if it lasts a few years i can save up for better cable anyway and once i do the maintenace etc it should be easy to change over.

Thanks for all your posts anyway at least i now know cat 6/7 for outdoor use :)

Another question anyway.

As at the end of the house i want to connect 360 / and 2 pc's

Would any switch do?
 
The category of the cable makes no difference to its suitability for external use. It’s what the outer sheath is made of that matters. External grade cable should be UV stable and so shouldn’t disintegrate if left exposed to the elements.

I can’t see any point using anything better than cat5e in a domestic environment. Cat5e will handle Gigabit speeds and it much easier to handle and terminate than cat6 or later.

Your other question… if you’re just wanting 100Mbps then just pick something with the number of ports you require.
 
I used some 'external grade' CAT5e cable when I ran cable on the outside of my old house.

The outside plastic of the cable is thicker than 'normal' CAT5e cable and it also has an extra plastic layer after that inside the first layer

Think I paid about £60 for 300m - something like that
 
bremen1874 said:
The category of the cable makes no difference to its suitability for external use. It’s what the outer sheath is made of that matters. External grade cable should be UV stable and so shouldn’t disintegrate if left exposed to the elements.

I can’t see any point using anything better than cat5e in a domestic environment. Cat5e will handle Gigabit speeds and it much easier to handle and terminate than cat6 or later.

Your other question… if you’re just wanting 100Mbps then just pick something with the number of ports you require.
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+1 to all the above.

Since you've already bought interior grade cable you're best to go with the suggestion of plastic conduit fixed to the house in the same way as exterior cable would be. Besides making your existing run survive the elements better you'll also find it a breeze to rewire later if you leave a drawstring in there.
 
If you use the tape I suggested you dont need to worry about elements you buy a big roll and cover all the cable that is outside like I said an it tech told me this and has been using this method for a long time I have even seen it on cabling i helped him do 6 years a go outside which has had no issues.
 
vsmora said:
+1 to all the above.

Since you've already bought interior grade cable you're best to go with the suggestion of plastic conduit fixed to the house in the same way as exterior cable would be. Besides making your existing run survive the elements better you'll also find it a breeze to rewire later if you leave a drawstring in there.
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+1 - don't worry about Cat6, 6e or 7, you'll be absolutely fine with Cat 5.

Do put it in properly attached and sealed conduit + couplers + inspection bends - you can get the appropriate stuff online from ScrewFix, Wickes, etc.
 
Stickman said:
2) for the fact that internet speeds are only gonna get faster... and sooner or later cat 5 is gonna seem slow.
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he said his cable run was 33-40meters (max), over that distance Cat5e will do 10Gb/s fine, considering how behind the times the UK is with internet access how fast to you see it getting any time soon?
 
ubersonic said:
He said his cable run was 33-40meters (max), over that distance Cat5e will do 10Gb/s fine, considering how behind the times the UK is with internet access how fast to you see it getting any time soon?
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Possibly . . .
A simplified summary of the specs for the most common cable categories in use today can help you determine what is right for you.

FREQUENCY-DISTANCE
Category 5-100 mbps-100 meters (328 feet)
Category 5e-1 Gigabit/sec-100 meters (328 feet)
Category 6- 3 Gigabit/sec-100 meters (328 feet)
Category 6A- 10 Gigabit/sec-100 meters (328 feet)
​
If you have very short runs, you may be able to use the cable at a lower rating than officially required. For example, on a 10 Gigabit application it is usually possible to go up to 35 meters on a Category 6 cable. Another possible application is a 30 foot run at 3 Gigabit on a Cat 5e cable which should work correctly because it is such a short run. If you have the luxury of trying out short applications you may be able to operate with cable rated at one lower category than the 100 meter rated cable for the required speed.

...

Finally it is important to design the data system with the future requirements in mind. If the system will have to be upgraded in the foreseeable future to handle higher frequencies or longer runs or a combination of both, it is usually much more costly when the labour charges are taken into consideration to have to make any major changes. Therefore the level of cable should include the increased capability required in the future, on the initial installation. (LINK)
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However, as you and others suggest, externally run, well terminated Cat5 cabling in properly sealed conduit should be more than adequate for most people's domestic requirements for a very long time.
 
Hefner said:
I used some 'external grade' CAT5e cable when I ran cable on the outside of my old house.

The outside plastic of the cable is thicker than 'normal' CAT5e cable and it also has an extra plastic layer after that inside the first layer

Think I paid about £60 for 300m - something like that
Click to expand...

same here -25m for about £10 is what i paid from the "bay of e"
 
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