Type of Ethernet cable and outside help

raptormonkey · 15 Sep 2009 at 15:25

My mate has a make-shift recording studio in his garden with a pc in it. It is soundproofed and he can't get a wireless signal for the internet in there.

Now, he wants to run a cable, approx 30m long from the studio, through the garden, through conservatory and into the house where the router is.

What type of Ethernet cable is best?
Is it ok for burying it in the garden or outside with all weathers? If not, what would you suggets?

Any advice would be very helpful indeed. Ta

Indy500 · 15 Sep 2009 at 15:29

STP (shielded twisted pair) CAT5e or CAT6 will do, but it may be worth taking additional measures to protect the cable.

raptormonkey · 15 Sep 2009 at 15:44

Twisted pair? Cat5e or Cat6?

I would put the cable into some garden hose under the soil. Would that be ok?

Indy500 · 15 Sep 2009 at 15:55

raptormonkey said:
Twisted pair?

You'll see this if you've ever taken the insulation off a network cable or made one by hand, the wires are twisted round each other to form four pairs.

raptormonkey said:
Cat5e or Cat6?

Both are rated for gigabit (Cat 5e has unused wire pairs that can be harnessed for more bandwidth), however Cat 6 may be more expensive since it 100% guarantees gigabit speeds.

raptormonkey said:
I would put the cable into some garden hose under the soil. Would that be ok?

I'd think so, yes.

Coldzero · 15 Sep 2009 at 15:59

cat 5e would be easily sufficient yeh

Gaz1988 · 15 Sep 2009 at 16:11

cat 5e through garden hose - job done!

raptormonkey · 15 Sep 2009 at 16:13

Ok, so Cat5e then. Twisted or not? It would fit in a garden hose you think?

Then just plug one end into the router, route cable and plug the other to the PC in the studio in the garden? (drilling wall and making good etc.)

Coldzero · 15 Sep 2009 at 16:24

should do yeh, might be interesting threading it through though

FatalSaviour · 15 Sep 2009 at 16:46

raptormonkey said:
Ok, so Cat5e then. Twisted or not?

All Cat5e/6 will be twisted pair (You'll notice that most cable is described as FTP/STP or most commonly UTP. Five points for guessing what TP stands for

)

ANDARIAL · 15 Sep 2009 at 21:29

Tip for threading cable down a hose pipe
Long piece of string,wad of cotton wool,tie to one end of string
Compressor (small home garage type ideal)
push one end of string with wad into hosepipe put end of compressor pipe after it turn on air and feed string until at other end of pipe

attach cat 5 etc and pull through
Did this to run a cable to open the electric gates at the end of our drive 30 m+
When

raptormonkey · 15 Sep 2009 at 21:30

What if you have not got a compressor?

Clown · 15 Sep 2009 at 21:39

Get blowing.

mejinks · 16 Sep 2009 at 03:07

What a fantastic idea. I might do that myself when I wire up my shed.

Anyway. The only other way to do it is through some kind of shielded conduit like metal pipe, but this will be a bit more expensive than garden hose. The downside of garden hose is that it will act as a giant ariel so he might get packet loss. YMMV.

raptormonkey · 16 Sep 2009 at 06:53

mejinks said:
What a fantastic idea. I might do that myself when I wire up my shed.

Anyway. The only other way to do it is through some kind of shielded conduit like metal pipe, but this will be a bit more expensive than garden hose. The downside of garden hose is that it will act as a giant ariel so he might get packet loss. YMMV.

Even if it is 100% plastic?

J.B · 16 Sep 2009 at 08:16

mejinks said:
The downside of garden hose is that it will act as a giant ariel so he might get packet loss. YMMV.

How so?

We are talking about a plastic hose right?

Coldzero · 16 Sep 2009 at 12:00

J.B said:
How so?

We are talking about a plastic hose right?

Indeed, should be fine.

Yamahahahahaha · 16 Sep 2009 at 15:01

For outside you want solid core cladded Cat5e.

Even if stranded cable is in the hose it'll still fracture in the cold.

It's not very expensive, so it's worth it to save the hassle.

wij · 16 Sep 2009 at 15:59

Also run a pair of cables, so if one fails over time you have a backup in place already.

dss · 16 Sep 2009 at 17:51

wij said:
Also run a pair of cables, so if one fails over time you have a backup in place already.

Probably a good idea, considering cabling is fairly cheap

mejinks · 16 Sep 2009 at 18:39

raptormonkey said:
Even if it is 100% plastic?

sorry, i meant the cable inside

doh!