cat3 and cat5 and dsl

[bentwookie]

I will be getting sbc dsl soon and was lookin at my phoneline junction box in my garage.. and the line that will have the dsl is cat3 not cat 5..is there a big difference? I read cat3 can run longer spans..I will be running about 100 feet max to a second story room...was thinking of setting up the modem and router in the garage and running cat3 to each of the seperate rooms... or else set it up in one of the rooms then routing from there..any suggestions? and should I invest in doing cat5? I will only be using the router for internet dl..not networking files between the computers. and don't plan on uploading to the internet at all.
rj45 works with cat3 I thought they used rj11's..this is all new to me..trying to plan the best way to route the wires..any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Oaf357]

CAT3 contains 4 wires. CAT5 has 8.

CAT3 is typically used with phone lines (the DSL modem's input). CAT5 (or USB depending on the modem) will be the output of your DSL modem. Take that CAT5 and plug that into a PC or router. From a router everything will be CAT5.

I'm sure JackMDS will be along with an always helpful link to point you in the right direction.

 

[bentwookie]

so from the phone service base >cat3>dslmodem>cat5>router>cat5>computers#1, #2 and#3.
Right?

 

[JackMDS]

LOL.

Whether you want the PCs to talk one to the other, or you upload or not, it does not matter. These are matters for local software setting on each computer.

I.e. the connection and the hardware should be the same as it is for sharing the Internet.

Telephone wire (CAT3) connects the DSL Modem to the Telephone line (rj-11). From there on all the connections and cables are CAT5e going to RJ-45.

And the links:

AnandTech - FAQ. Basic Options for Internet Connection Sharing

AnandTech - FAQ. Hubs, routers, switches, DSL, LANs, WANs...?

How the system should look: Diagram of Broadband Connection with Cable/DSL Router.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Actually Category 3 cable can use a huge number of wire pairs (like 100) or only 2 pair. Cat3 used for phone lines just happens to be 2 pair.

You'll never be able to use 100Mbps Ethernet in your house with Cat3, only 10Mbps. Probably not a big issue (since your DSL is so much slower anyway), but it really doesn't hurt to just put in Cat5 now. It does make the house more valuable to have good wiring in it. Cat5e cable may actually be cheaper, since most everything just uses that now rather than Cat3.

Putting the DSL line into a common room is a good idea. If your garage is weatherproof and not damp and doesn't get too hot in the summer, hopefully not too dusty and dirty, that would be a good place for it, so that it's not sitting in someone's bedroom or the middle of the living room looking ugly.

DSL is meant to go over standard phone lines, which is Cat3 in any place that isn't ancient wiring. It uses the same signal pair that the phone line does, but on a different frequency.

The connector used is independent of the type of wire. Cat3 used for a phone line would have an RJ11 connection because that's what a phone uses. Cat3 used for a 10BaseT network would have 4 pairs and use RJ45. You could still use Cat3 with only 2 pairs, because 10/100BaseT doesn't use all the pairs, so you just make sure you put the wires on the right pins.

If you really want to do it right, use plenum cabling. That's the only way to do it so that it's actually up to fire codes when you run the wiring through walls.

 

[bentwookie]

I guess that was funny since I am a noob at this stuff..thanks for the links and your help..really appreciate..since this board is slow right now. THX again!

 

[ScottMac]

A "Category" rating has nothing to do with the number of wires/pairs in the sheath.

It refers to specific electrical characteristics. There are four-conductor (two pair) Cat5 cables, there are 50 conductor Cat5 cables ... the most common is the 8 conductor / four pair. Same for Cat3 (2/4/50 pair) ...

Cat 5 is more competent for higher frequencies. Cat5e is pretty much the same as Cat5, but all four pair are rated for high-speed networking (more suitable for Gig E, which uses all four pair, each pair talks both directions at the same time). Cat6 is rated for higher freqs, less loss (attenuation), better crosstalk performance (NEXT, FEXT, etc), and ratios of one characteristic against another (Attenuation-to-Crosstalk Ratio - ACR).

ANY Category-rated cable is spec'd for 100 meters (90 meters of solid conductor "in the walls", with 5 meters of stranded "jumpers" at each end).

Cat3 is now code for most phone installations (used to be DIW - unrated).

FWIW

Scott

 

[Lord Evermore]

I'd never seen Cat3 with more than 4 pairs, so I actually only learned that when I made the post and was looking at stuff about them. I never saw anything more than 4-pair Cat5, so I figured part of the rating for higher speeds was limited number of conductors.

 

[cmetz]

Think RJ21 connectors - you get 25 (RJ21) pairs in a big thick cable to jump between punch-down blocks, patches, etc. Can be Cat3 or Cat5 as well as unrated.