75' RJ45 or Wifi?

[EQTitan]

Currently I'm running like 75' of RJ45 from my upstairs to my basement (gaming rig). I was wondering if it would be worth it to go out and buy a Wifi card for my desktop in the basement vs. the 75' of RJ45 cables running through my duct work. I actually have alot more "extra" slack then I need. As in I bought a 75' cable because I thought 50' was to short. I have about a good 10' to 20' of left over cable that is probably loosing connection at 30' or so.

What do you guys think? I'm currently using the WRT54G router.

 

[JackMDS]

If you run it on cable and it is working, what are you expecting from the WIFI?

It would run slower and would be less stable.

If you want to enjoy upstairs Wireless for additional Laptop mobility, or and be Cool, buy a cheap Wireless Cable/DSLRouter and use it at the end of the cable run as a switch with an Access Point.

Using a Wireless Cable/DSL Router as a Switch with an Access Point

:sun:

 

[EQTitan]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
If you run it on cable and it is working, what are you expecting from the WIFI?

It would run slower and would be less stable.

If you want to enjoy upstairs Wireless for additional Laptop mobility, or and be Cool, buy a cheap Wireless Cable/DSLRouter and use it at the end of the cable run as a switch with an Access Point.

Using a Wireless Cable/DSL Router as a Switch with an Access Point

:sun:

I'm getting very high latency downstairs I'm running 6mb service and I'm getting like anywhere from 256kb to 400kb

 

[spidey07]

If it is slower with that cable then directly into the router/switch then the cable is probably not terminated properly/well.

Is this store bought cable or did you crimp ends on yourself?

Also wifi is significantly higher latency/slower than a wire.

 

[EQTitan]

Originally posted by: spidey07
If it is slower with that cable then directly into the router/switch then the cable is probably not terminated properly/well.

Is this store bought cable or did you crimp ends on yourself?

Also wifi is significantly higher latency/slower than a wire.

Anyone know what the rate of loss of signal based on length of cable?

I think I might have to get a shorter cable for better results. This is Computer store bought non-retail chain.

 

[spidey07]

there is no loss or latency for up to 300 meters.

 

[EQTitan]

=( not sure what my problem is then. I'd like to get the speed I'm capable of but it's not happening.

 

[spidey07]

check to make sure that both the switch port and network card are set to auto speed and auto duplex. That could cause the slowdown.

Or lug the computer and use a known working good patch cord to plug directly into switch - if speeds improve then you know for a fact that the cable is bad (happens all the time)

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: spidey07
there is no loss or latency for up to 300 meters.

Sorry thats incorrect. Its 100 meters. Which is a bit over 300 feet. That is the standard for cat5/cat5e/cat6 ethernet networking cable. After that you need to put in a switch or hub, then you can go for another 300'

Originally posted by: EQTitan
the 75' of RJ45 cables running through my duct work.
What do you guys think? I'm currently using the WRT54G router.

You may want to may sure you are using plenem (ductspace/airspace) category cable if you are running it through ductwork. The normal stuff can get off noxious fumes if there's ever a fire, and it will spread through the house in the duct work
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/plenum_cable.html

Originally posted by: EQTitan
I'm getting very high latency downstairs I'm running 6mb service and I'm getting like anywhere from 256kb to 400kb

Latency is ping times. You are quoting decreased downloading which is not ping times. So thats decreased throughput
Are you doing any p2p or uploading? That is one of the most common overlooked factors in slowing down downloads. On async connections (which DSL and usually cable almost always are) doing heaving uploads will SLOW the downloads WAY WAY down.

 

[spidey07]

yeah, I slipped.

 

[EQTitan]

Originally posted by: Devistater

Originally posted by: spidey07
there is no loss or latency for up to 300 meters.

Sorry thats incorrect. Its 100 meters. Which is a bit over 300 feet. That is the standard for cat5/cat5e/cat6 ethernet networking cable. After that you need to put in a switch or hub, then you can go for another 300'

Originally posted by: EQTitan
the 75' of RJ45 cables running through my duct work.
What do you guys think? I'm currently using the WRT54G router.

You may want to may sure you are using plenem (ductspace/airspace) category cable if you are running it through ductwork. The normal stuff can get off noxious fumes if there's ever a fire, and it will spread through the house in the duct work
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/plenum_cable.html

Originally posted by: EQTitan
I'm getting very high latency downstairs I'm running 6mb service and I'm getting like anywhere from 256kb to 400kb

Latency is ping times. You are quoting decreased downloading which is not ping times. So thats decreased throughput
Are you doing any p2p or uploading? That is one of the most common overlooked factors in slowing down downloads. On async connections (which DSL and usually cable almost always are) doing heaving uploads will SLOW the downloads WAY WAY down.

I was reffering more towards the ping level when lookign for servers to play on in gmaes like BF2 and UT2K4 which are around 0-150ping on my wifes machine which is right by the router, and 200<1500 on my machine.

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: EQTitan
I was reffering more towards the ping level when lookign for servers to play on in gmaes like BF2 and UT2K4 which are around 0-150ping on my wifes machine which is right by the router, and 200<1500 on my machine.

Ah ok, ping times are in ms not kb

Anyway, I have a pretty long (nearly 100') cord connecting my computer to router. If I play local servers in my state or near it I can get under 50ms ping. Sometimes down under 20ms or less.

The router and card and cable TOGETHER should be less than 1ms (maybe 2 if all the equipment is slow) total. After all the stuff should be near lightspeed traveling the cable, and the cat 5 specs say it should be fine up to at least around 300 foot.

Its very unlikly that a cable would make that much differance. But there's an easy way to tell, plug your LONG cable into your wifes machine right next to router, see if it screws up the times.

If it does, its the cable and its crap, replace it. If it doesn't, then something with the computer thats far away from router is the problem.

 

[duragezic]

Yeah you can test if the long cable is really the problem by using a short one. When I moved into this house, the guys before us left a ton of cables. They were at least 50' and one is at least 100' I think. They look like they were crimped by themselves, so we doubted the quality of them. And the fact that all of us got constant disconnects and horribly slow internet while cabled up, yet the one guy on wireless here had no problems. So someone on here suggested that they were getting too much EMI (interference). Two of the guys switched to wireless but I said no fvcking way because 11mbps is bullcrap (our router is only .b) and I always transfer stuff to and from the Xbox, stream from my computer, etc, so 100mbps is essential. And so after the router decreases from being full of cables to just mine and the Xbox, I get much fewer disconnects and my throughput is what it should be (3mbps). So I do believe EMI had something to do with it. Every cat5 cable we have is UTP (unshielded twisted pair), but I believe the shielded cat5 cables are much rarer and expensive.

One day I tested a few different cables. I did transfers to the Xbox using the longest, shadiest cat5 cable that I personally thought was crap, but ended up being just about the same as this brand-new 50' one I'm using, as well as using the shortest ones I have right next to the router.

Still, our internet isn't perfect. Sometimes I get disconnected from ICQ, as do the guys on wireless, so who fvcking knows. It was REALLY bad though. I also moved the router and cable modem to a different spot. I hooked the cable modem to where the cable line comes into the house. Previously there was several ~30-50' extensions that went from my room out of it and into another room where the router sat. I thought maybe it was unneccesary to have all that extension and that the signal strength was weak through it all. Not really sure if moving the modem and router helped, but the internet works good enough these days to not worry about it.

 

[dnoyeb]

The cable will cause 0 latency. Perhaps there is a misconfiguraiton of the computer. Are you experiencing any dropped packets or retransmissions on that connection?


Cat 5 refers to the cabeling system, RJ45 is the connector type only.

 

[EQTitan]

This is what I got when trying to ping www.google.com

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Ben>ping www.google.com

Pinging www.l.google.com [64.233.167.147] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 64.233.167.147: bytes=32 time=1173ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.167.147: bytes=32 time=1421ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.167.147: bytes=32 time=1231ms TTL=243
Reply from 64.233.167.147: bytes=32 time=1199ms TTL=243

Ping statistics for 64.233.167.147:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1173ms, Maximum = 1421ms, Average = 1256ms

I would so like to get my connection straightened out so I can play online games with ease, and not have to worry about getting dropped.

I'm using the built in Lan on my DFI NF4 LanParty U-D

 

[spidey07]

that is some seriously bad latency.

If plugged directly into the "modem" with no hom networking gear involved and still see the same results....

call the provider. That's bad...really, really, bad. On broadband you should see less than 100 ms. Now we don't guarantee it, that's what you should see.

If after eliminating any home networking you don't see these symptoms well then you know it is in the home and not the provider and we can go from there.

-edit- what you are seeing can be caused by a bad cable.

 

[EQTitan]

I know it's not the provider as I have never had any problems with them what so ever. I get a great connection it I just plug my wifes machine into the cable modem.

 

[Sunner]

My setup at home is a firewall hooked up to my ISP, then a 25 metre(roughly 75 feet) Cat5(not even Cat5e) cable to a switch, then yet another 10 metre cable to my computer, and this is what I get if I ping Google:

-bash-3.00$ ping www.google.com
PING www.l.google.com (66.249.85.104): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 66.249.85.104: icmp_seq=0 ttl=238 time=53.552 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.85.104: icmp_seq=1 ttl=238 time=52.279 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.85.104: icmp_seq=2 ttl=238 time=51.537 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.85.104: icmp_seq=3 ttl=238 time=51.997 ms
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/std-dev = 51.537/52.341/53.552/0.764 ms

And I'm in Sweden, so you're probably a lot closer to Google as well.
Trying a different cable would be my first idea.

Oh and not that it's likely, but you could always try the other NIC in the Ultra-D, unlikely but it's such an easy thing to test, so why not.

 

[EQTitan]

I ran a new higher quality 50' Cat6 cable but I'm still getting horrible latency. I'm using the WRT54G, with a linksys NIC v3 in my wifes machine, and my on board gigabit.

 

[spidey07]

How are your measuring the latency?

Also was this cable terminated at the factory or done by hand?

 

[nweaver]

and change your duplex speed settings. If set to auto/auto on both sides, set one side (PC probably) to 100 Full, 100 auto, auto full, etc. This sounds like it might be a duplex mismatch. Other option is to console in and watch for errors (if this is a managed switch)

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: nweaver
and change your duplex speed settings. If set to auto/auto on both sides, set one side (PC probably) to 100 Full, 100 auto, auto full, etc. This sounds like it might be a duplex mismatch. Other option is to console in and watch for errors (if this is a managed switch)

to add to NMs observations, anybody else out there.

A good 95% of performance problems or "network is slow" are from a duplex mismatch or not up to spec cable.

 

[Excelsior]

As others have said, something else is wrong with your setup. I am pinging an average of 15ms to www.google.com, and the cable modem/router in my house is over 50ft away. I am hooked up through the wiring we just did in the house, and it was just Cat5e.