Wiring bedrooms with Ethernet (A Doh! Moment)

Demon

Demon

Demon

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I am just kicking myself right now!


Due to wanting to stream 1080p to each bedroom (I got the kids some Cyclone X4's for Crimbo), I bit the bullet and decided to wire up the bedrooms with at least Cat 5e.

The plan was:
1. Simple network switch put in the loft located next to the aerial distribution amp that already has a mains socket by it.
2. Use some 10M Cat5E/Cat6 standard cables (cut one RJ45 off) to go from the switch to each bedroom.
3. Since I wired each bedroom with a nice aerial feed, I planned to just put each Ethernet cable alongside each aerial, which would come out the single gang sockets I have already put in each wall behind the TV's
4. Use some cheap modular single gang socket fronts to give me an Aerial and Ethernet in a single 1 Gang wall plate.

After 4 hours, and having nice single gang modular sockets behind the TV with aerial/Ethernet, I couldn't get anything over Ethernet, and when double checking, I realised the POS Ethernet cables I'd bought were not twisted pair, just 8 individual wires, so no surprise that over about 15m max length, they are hopeless..

Damn you cheapBay!!!!!!! I used a seller with a good reputation with positive feedback on the same cables before I bought, and payed a fair price! But I should have known! They say Cat 5E on the cable sheath, but clearly that be some little mischievous Chinese company knocking them out for pennies!

Well, I'll get a roll of cable from somewhere reputable and make my own leads up..

Just thought it worth mentioning, since we all occasionally skimp on things that bite us in the backside!
 
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Demon said:
I am just kicking myself right now!

...They say Cat 5E on the cable sheath, but clearly that be some little mischievous Chinese company knocking them out for pennies!

Well, I'll get a roll of cable from somewhere reputable and make my own leads up..

Just thought it worth mentioning, since we all occasionally skimp on things that bite us in the backside!
Click to expand...
This is the problem I face regularly when people compare a quote against Ebay pricing. I can stand behind the quality of the gear I use and be assured that it will work first time, every time. The stuff of the bay... sometimes the seller hasn't got a clue they're peddling crap. Then other times they do but couldn't give a toss. Sorry you got burned. :(

Future tip: Make sure your Cat cable is not CCA. That's the copper coated aluminium crap that the Chinese knock out as a cheaper alternative to all-copper Cat cables.
 
We wired our house with wired in 'proper' CAT5e originally which works great
I then brought some so called CAT6 off the bay and it was the worst cable imaginable
It does work but only at 100MB/s on a 20m run
I will never make that mistake again!
 
I have also made the same mistake. I didn't buy the cheapest, but bought something in the middle thinking it would be half decent. But same as you, they were just straight wires, no twisted pairs, and no shielding :(

I didn't want to buy a roll of decent stuff as I knew I wasn't going to be living here for more than a few years. Lesson learnt though!
 
FerretBoy said:
Really should have still worked.. Did your module wiring match the rj45 wiring?
Click to expand...

Well, It did connect at 10Mbit, but almost no throughput..

The cables were 10M RJ45 to RJ45, I cut one end off, looking at the RJ45 it was wired as T568B (orange/white one end, solid brown the other), so when I chopped one off, I did wire it as T568B standard into the back of the socket.

I admit I wasn't sure if I needed to wire it as 'A' into the socket as a cross-over or not..

I'll obviously get some proper cable now, but do you think I may have wired it wrong?
 
No thinking about it the switch probably manages if it is crossover or not. You could pick up a cheap tester to ensure all cables have a good connection. Should be around £5. You need one anyway.
 
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