Maximum CAT-5 cable length for ADSL broadband
 

Hello,

I have an ADSL Broadband internet connection. Right now I am using a Netgear wireless router (4 Ethernet ports) which is connected to the broadband modem. Now I have a PC on my second floor which needs to be connected to Internet. The distance between the Router (1st floor) and my PC (on 2nd floor) is around 175 meters.

Now upon searching on internet I found that the maximum distance that a good quality CAT-5 ethernet cable can support is 100 meters. How can I connect my PC to my router. I do not want to use Wireless because I will have to buy additional hardware (PCI wireless card) and also the signal strength is very weak at the location where the PC is.

Is there any way by which I can extend my CAT-5 Ethernet cable signal beyond 100 meters?

You probably still need to get additional hardware. Maybe you could use a repeater, hub (active or smart) or a switch?

Thanks for your reply.....what will be the most suitable for my scenario? Is there any significant difference between these three?

also I just realized that I have one more router. Can that router do the job i.e. repeat the signal?

It probably can if you can do away with the routing option (i.e. turn it into a switch).

Hmm that might be a bit complicated.....so I am thinking to either resort to a hub, switch or a repeater as mentioned by reddazz....


What is the best option? I searched on Internet for difference between those three devices but nothing useful came up (for my scenario).

I'd probably just for a switch because there are very cheap options available these days and many have multiple ports so you can add other devices if you wish.

Your router will work "as is" if it has more then one port on an internal network. Just plug a cat5 cable from your network to one of the router's internal ports and then another from another internal port to the PC on your second floor.

HTH

Forrest

Thanks for your reply, forrest!!

This is how my two routers looks like:
http://www.gearxs.com/gearxs/images/MR814NAR.jpg


Actually I had little difficulty understanding what you said. Just to make sure....by internal ports you mean the 4 ports that are present on the back of my router?

So the total solution will be connect a cat5 cable to one of the 4 internal ports of my second router (which will come from my 1st router's internal port) and then connect another cat5 to another internal port of my second router which will eventually connect to my PC.

He just means not to use the single (all by itself) port but use only one of the four grouped together ports.

Do not use a hub. Hubs themselves are dumb. If you are running any amount of traffic on them, they allow collisions between packets. When these collisions occur, the packet is resent. The more packets that are resent, the more collisions that occur. Pretty soon your throughput is zero. Switches are smart enough not to allow this to happen.

If you have not bought the cable yet, consider moving up to cat 6. The price difference is minimal now, but the cat 6 cable leaves you head room for the future.

How big of a house do you have? 175 meters is like 1/4 of a football field. Roughly 1 yard = 1 meter. With 175 meters I could go out my window, around the house and back in again.


Edit: Yep, no caffeine so far today. It is even worse than 1/4 of a football field. Thanks Forrestt

Make sure you disable the DHCP server function of the spare router you plan to use just as a switch...

100 Meters = approx 328 Feet.. yep that's longer than a football field

That picture shows an external port (by itself) and 4 internal ports (grouped together). If you are connecting the two routers together you should connect an internal port of router 1 to the external port of router 2 and then the upstairs PC to an internal port of router 2. Then assign router 2's external port to an IP of router 1's internal space, and then a different internal space to router 2's internal ports.

If the routers serve DHCP and can be configured via DHCP then turn on switch one before switch 2 and the switch itself should be configured automatically. You will have to configure the second switch before things will work though.

HTH

Forrest

p.s. 175M ~= one and three quarter football fields (1 3/4, not 1/4).

would be easier to buy a $10.00 10/100 switch..
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0257750
Auto MDIX to avoid having to use a crossover cable for the connection.. just plug and go.

You wouldn't need any crossover cables, and I wouldn't think it would be that difficult to set up. Just configure the second router as if the first router is its ISP and the assigned address is one on the first router's internal network.

Forrest

Forrestt

If you just want internet that is true. But if you want to do internal stuff (nfs,samba, etc) the addressing gets tricky crossing the two subnets (yes it can be done, just tricky). That is why I said not to use the single port. Then the other four ports are just acting like a switch. Usually the only caveat doing it that way is that you can get some screwy results with trying to access the router (192.168.1.1 gives you router A or B?). It just depends on the particular router (I do not know about this one).

Personally I now use a router (100) and a GigE switch. All internal traffic runs through the switch at 1000, external is still limited to 100(all addressing is handled by the router). However I do see a boost in external throughput(10-15%). I suspect that it has to do with the buffers in the switch keeping the buffers in the router full at all times(just a guess).

Lots of ways to get there.

Lazlow

Lazlow,

Not sure why it is complicated, maybe I'm just seeing things with blinders on. I was also second guessing myself about the internal ports being able to switch between the two routers through the CAT5 cable. And if someone 175M away from me wanted to share my DSL line I'd want them on a different subnet, friend or not :).

Forrest