Cat3, Cat5, Cat6?

[jjm]

I searched, but came up with nothing on cat3, so pardon me if this is a repetitive question. My home appears to have been wired with cat3 a few years ago with 3 rooms run to a central point in the basement. I have my cable modem hooked to a router, and the cat3 cable runs from the router to the 3 different rooms and PCs.

What are the differences among 3, 5, 5e, and 6?

Should I care if I am only sharing a cable modem among 3 PCs?

If I want to extend one of the lines, does it matter if I use 3, 5, 5e, or 6, or should I stick with the 3?

 

[cmetz]

cat3 supports 10BaseT or 100BaseT4. 100BaseT4 gear is darn near impossible to find, so think 10BaseT. As long as you limit yourself to 10Mb/s (no 100) your network should work fine. Since your cable modem won't move more than 10Mb/s anyway, sharing of that over a 10Mb/s Ethernet vs. 100Mb/s is not a bottleneck. However, computer to computer communication (e.g., file sharing) will noticeably suffer.

cat3 requires 10 (?) MHz of usable RF bandwidth. cat5 requires 100MHz of bandwidth. cat6 requires 250MHz of bandwidth. That extra bandwidth means more usable signal capacity means more bits per second. cat5e is an extension of the cat5 spec that adds certain new requirements and I believe tightens one, this extension is necessary to make 1000BaseT work.

I'd go ahead and use cat5e for all new cable work. It's cheap and easily available. A cat3 cable with a cat5e extension is derated to the lowest rated component, that is, it conforms to cat3.

 

[JackMDS]

Buy balk CAT5e. Connect securely the end of a CAT3 to the CAT5e, and pull slowly at the basement. If you do it carefully you will have CAT5e in the wall.

Terminate the connection with Keystones Jacks and Plates and you Net-New.

The following links will provide an actual description of Keystone installation...

Link: Physical Home Networking

Link: How To Terminate & Assemble Keystone Jacks.

You can buy the Keystones and plates at Home depot, or on line here.

Link: http://www.9thtee.com/networking.htm

 

[acemcmac]

Cat 6 is a PAIN to crimp with a traditional Cat 5 crimper and does nothing (to my knowledge) that Cat 5e won't. It also has a reinforcing core of plastic in the center that makes it more attractive for fishing in industrial environments. Using all 8 pins of Cat5e is probably the best way to go. You don't need a new crimper but you'll still have gigabit capiability.

I know nothing of Cat3...

 

[SLEEPER5555]

Unfortunatly this does not always work, the idiots that built my house in 2000 stapled the cat 3 to the wall so there is no "pulling it" It really blows but basically i have two options

1. rip off a ton of sheetrock making a big mess and lots of patch work
2. buy a new house and make sure it gets done with 5e

Unfortunatly i think 2 is more realistic but my wife doesn't want to move!

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Buy balk CAT5e. Connect securely the end of a CAT3 to the CAT5e, and pull slowly at the basement. If you do it carefully you will have CAT5e in the wall.

Terminate the connection with Keystones Jacks and Plates and you Net-New.

The following links will provide an actual description of Keystone installation...

Link: Physical Home Networking

Link: How To Terminate & Assemble Keystone Jacks.

You can buy the Keystones and plates at Home depot, or on line here.

Link: http://www.9thtee.com/networking.htm

 

[jjm]

Thanks.

 

[cmetz]

SLEEPER5555, another option is to talk to a good professional cable installer. A good cable guy can do some serious magic. They can probably do something for you, and save you having to move...

 

[mbackof]

I had your problem of no access to the upstairs. I ended up running CAT5e from the basement out to PVC conduit, up the side of the house, then back into the attic. Once I the attic I fished it down to the first floor. I used 75ft runs of CAT5e and the machine upstairs runs very fast at 100MBPS into the NAT. I was easier than ripping up the drywall, and after I paint the conduit white, it won't be noticable. (my siding is white)

Mike