Which type of cable to use?

[Vekiq]

Hey Gents,

Just had Sky internet installed, i switched from virgin. I know a bit of a silly move going from cable to adsl, but i had enough of Virgin and the way they treated me after being customer since 2003, but that's story for some other time.

I want my main PC to be wire connected with modem, my daughters laptop and my PS3 will go wireless.

I need about 16 meters of cable to get to the room where my PC is.
I have 2 options, go with RJ11 extension cable and drive signal cable to my room and connect modem there.

Second is leaving modem where it is now and using network cable http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-038-OK&groupid=701&catid=48&subcat=1069
to plug into my lan port on pc. It is shame that there is no 20 meter cable, 30 is almost double the length i need, can too long cable have negative effects on data transfer?

I dont know much about ADSl as such but so far i have concluded that it is best to leave modem as close to the main socket as possible, so i am thinking best to go with network cable?

Also sagem wireless modem/router sky provided me with is not up to the job, you need to be fairly close to it to get good signal, i was thinking replacing it with this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-081-BE I have cable version of this (well they look the same) and its been really good, is this good one to go for?

Cheers
Ved

 

[wonko]

IIRC it's in Sky's Ts&Cs that you should only use their supplied ADSL router - you can extract the login and password to use your own router but I'm not sure whether they are bothered or what they might do about it.

If moving the sky router nearer to where your pc is would fix the wireless coverage problem then I'd install a telephone extension socket, using proper twisted-pair cable. An extra 20m of cable will be insignificant compared to the distance of cable back to the exchange so won't have any significant effect on sync speed. I would doubt that many RJ11 extension cables use twisted pairs, so may well pick up more electrical noise which could affect speed and stability of the connection.

Re the network cable option, this would have no effect on speed.

Hope this helps.

 

[Vekiq]

Cheers m8.

Its silly really that they don't let you use your own hardware, i have read a bit about that, there are valid reasons for and against, I am not going to start that discussion.

In either case, they then should provide hardware capable of doing the job, in my case signal needs to go through 2 walls only, and neither of them is thick concrete, just standard inner plasterboard walls, total distance from modem to room is about 6 meters, give or take 1 meter.

 

[Sonea Fifer]

From my experience with Sky broadband I'd recommend leaving the router connected to your master telephone socket and running an extended ethernet cable to your main (wired) PC.

Wonko is quite correct in saying that Sky prefer you to use their own router and wont supply you with the username / password, however there is various ways to get this information should you need to do so.

As for wireless, I have a laptop connected wirelessly, my PS3 and two blackberry's and neither have experienced any connectivity issues. My main system is wired through extended ethernet which is best for gaming and downloading imo.

 

[Vekiq]

Cheers Fifer i am not so far from you, Dundee.

I have not really fiddled with any settings in the router as of yet, i will try different channels and some other stuff.

I also stream loads of music and movies from my PC to PS3 using nero media home, i have not tried that yet, but i presume it will be massive fail with sky router.