Fibre optic to garden office

GSDog · 28 Mar 2022 at 20:04

We have a garden office that is 125m from the house without a working network connection at present.

I have tried running a Cat 6 cable that length however it does not seem to like it for some reason and limits the speed to 10Mbps.

I noticed that there is a fibre to RJ45 converter installed in the office, suggesting that the previous owner connected to the house via fibre; unfortunately the fibre cable has been pulled out for some reason.

I know very little about fibre but it sounds like it may be the right choice for this length. Firstly; what sort of cable would I require? It will be installed below ground in an existing duct at a length of 125m.

Is there anything else that I need to consider?

Caged · 28 Mar 2022 at 20:10

I would use a single-mode duplex cable with LC connectors, and then put the relevant single-mode optics at each end.

Measure the total cable run length and then get a quote https://mcldatasolutions.co.uk/singlemode-armoured-fibre-patch-lead-duplex

It's possible to do this with multimode cable but I just don't like multimode unless you already have the optics - single-mode is far more flexible - e.g. you can do things like put CWDM hardware on each end at a later date if you wanted to send data from a satellite dish LNB down to the office in the future and have it co-exist with the ethernet wavelengths. You possible also don't need armoured cable but as it's going outside a long way I prefer it.

andicole0 · 28 Mar 2022 at 20:41

I've run Cat 6a over 100m and there is no performance degradation. I would test the cable and connections. Are you sure the ports at either end are running properly?

xb8browney · 28 Mar 2022 at 20:47

If they linked at 10 I'm going to assume you crimped them yourself?

ProStreet · 29 Mar 2022 at 08:33

I just use hotplugs over electric. I get the same speed as wireless in my house, max around 65mbps.

Armageus · 29 Mar 2022 at 09:10

andicole0 said:
I've run Cat 6a over 100m and there is no performance degradation. I would test the cable and connections. Are you sure the ports at either end are running properly?

It's not guaranteed over 100m, and depends entirely on the quality of the cable, crimping and indeed the devices on the end.

The best option as already mention is to use some preterminated fibre; I've use Universal Networks several times, and they've always been great - although they are coming in at ~£210 for 125m, single mode, LC, 4 fibres.
https://www.universalnetworks.co.uk...re-cables/?attribute_pa_cable-type=loose-tube

Another option that I'd recently seen available is ethernet repeaters (which may be worth looking at given the low cast and the fact you already have the cable in place)
https://eu.store.ui.com/collections...s/long-range-indoor-outdoor-ethernet-repeater

WJA96 · 29 Mar 2022 at 12:12

If you’re running a fibre (and it absolutely is the best possible option) then get a contractor in to pull it. You need to be unbelievably careful pulling fibre. It is easy enough to damage a CAT 5e or CAT 6 cable but fibre needs VERY careful handling. A pre-terminated fibre is great, but pulling it yourself through 125m of conduit has a reasonable probability of going wrong.

If you get a contractor in, they’ll pull the cable, terminate it and test it.

One option that hasn’t been mentioned is a 60GHz wireless link. We do a lot with the Mikrotik Wireless Wire Cube which gives a solid 2GbE connection over short-medium distances (up to a kilometre) using 60GHz and has a 300Mbps backup channel for when it rains cats and dogs or it snows heavily and degrades the 60GHz signal.

If you can though, use a fibre or a cable. You can buy “high performance” cables that promise 1GbE over the notional 100m limit but in reality a fibre is the right option.

GSDog · 30 Mar 2022 at 09:14

Thanks for the replies.

I have spent quite a few hours fault testing the ethernet cable and even tried a replacement cable (without bothering to put it through the duct!) which was pre-terminated but still got the same results. I have tried different ports as well.

Yesterday when doing a bit more digging (literally) I managed to find an existing fibre cable in the duct which for some reason has been chopped at about 20m away from the house. Is it worth trying to 'patch' onto this or just replace the entire cable? It has the benefit of already being laid in the duct so will save that hassle. I guess I need to find out what type of fibre cable it is first.

Caged · 30 Mar 2022 at 10:05

Use it to pull a new cable in. The cost of a person to visit you with a fusion splicer to do the join will be more than a new pre-terminated cable.

AtaRo · 30 Mar 2022 at 10:30

How big is the duct? is it big enough to fit a gigabit poe extenter.
The extender is powered via poe so no need to run seperate power cable for it.

Caged · 30 Mar 2022 at 11:35

^ that's another option, if you have an intact Cat6 link already then putting something like a MikroTik GPeR at each side of the 125m cable run should make the link work, and they are cheap

https://i.mt.lv/cdn/product_files/GPeR_191102.pdf

b0rn2sk8 · 30 Mar 2022 at 11:43

I second what @WJA96 suggested, this is one of those scenarios that a wireless wire type product was made for, assuming you have line of sight.

They are really easy to set up and give speeds well into the fast enough category.

Sparx · 30 Mar 2022 at 13:35

GSDog said:
Yesterday when doing a bit more digging (literally) I managed to find an existing fibre cable in the duct which for some reason has been chopped at about 20m away from the house. Is it worth trying to 'patch' onto this or just replace the entire cable? It has the benefit of already being laid in the duct so will save that hassle. I guess I need to find out what type of fibre cable it is first.

It'll be quite costly to splice and fuse fibre, it needs specialist equipment and so would need someone in.

Much cheaper and more sensible imo, to just buy a new pre-terminated fibre cable and pull it through.

Steveocee · 30 Mar 2022 at 14:57

As someone who sits in a garden office on the end of fibre. Try a pre-terminated first. Depending on the route, is their no way of running another anyway?

Avalon · 31 Mar 2022 at 16:09

smeemi said:
I just use hotplugs over electric. I get the same speed as wireless in my house, max around 65mbps.

That generally doesn't work so well unless you have ignored wiring regulations (office needs a sub board fed from an isolatable breaker in the main property which will be on its own breaker), for everyone else it's a car crash.

A new pre-made fibre feed is the way I would go on this, anything else is a compromise.

GSDog · 1 Apr 2022 at 14:52

Yes I did try the powerline adapters but as they're on a different circuit and consumer board it didn't work.

I've now ordered the MikroTik GPeR ethernet extender with a PoE injector so we shall see if that'll fix the existing Cat 6.

I should have mentioned that currently there is a 25m Cat 6 joined to a 100m Cat 6 in the garden (making the combined 125m run). I'll be putting the MikroTik GPeR between the 25m and 100m cables, with the PoE injector at the beginning of the run.

I'll let you know how I get on, it should arrive tomorrow hopefully!