CAT5 run length

[jhansman]

I am about to start drilling holes in the floor to run CAT5 under the house from my router (Linksys WRT54G) to a bedroom PC about 35 ft. away. Any problem with that distance? Many thanks.

 

[kornphlake]

35ft is no problem. You're terminating with keystone jacks on both ends of the run right?

 

[her209]

35 ft is nothing. CAT 5 can run 100 m.

 

[jhansman]

35ft is no problem. You're terminating with keystone jacks on both ends of the run right?

Umm, maybe? 😉 Should I? I was just going to run standard cable from the router to the LAN port of the PC. Would this create problems or not work?

 

[kornphlake]

It's easier to get a good termination punching down the wire in a keystone than trying to crimp a plug on the cable. Plus it looks more professional to have a jack in a wall plate or surface mount box than to have a wire coming out of the wall.

 

[jhansman]

Well, I was just going to get a 50' length of cable with the connectors attached (ala Monoprice), but there is the esthetic factor. More investigation to do. Thanks.

 

[imagoon]

Check here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2053136

 

[Eug]

Well, I was just going to get a 50' length of cable with the connectors attached (ala Monoprice), but there is the esthetic factor. More investigation to do. Thanks.

Those are stranded cables. They'll work but usually what's recommended is solid cable for permanent in-wall installations. Furthermore, the jacks are generally designed to be used with solid cables.

If I were in your shoes I'd just grab 75-100 feet of solid CAT5e off eBay and make two runs in that location.

BTW, is there any way of running that cable into the space behind the drywall, instead of through the floor? Much better and more convenient after it's installed. It's really quite annoying to have cables sticking up through the floor. Vacuuming and moving furniture is a pain, and it just plain looks bad.

 

[jhansman]

BTW, is there any way of running that cable into the space behind the drywall, instead of through the floor? Much better and more convenient after it's installed. It's really quite annoying to have cables sticking up through the floor. Vacuuming and moving furniture is a pain, and it just plain looks bad.

I am investigating this now. The point of origin is extremely difficult to get to under the house and is complicated by the fact that the bottom plate of the wall that would hold the wall plate sits on a 2 ft. foundation wall; not much room to work in at all. Where the two runs would terminate, however, are very accessible and should be easy to do properly. I'm thinking now that three such jacks (for the three remaining ports on my router) should go into the wall described above, and then run two cables to the now-desired drops, and a third to an accessible spot and left for possible future use. FWIW, my wife thinks I'm daffy and should just live with the crappy wireless speeds she and my son use every day, and skip all this. I, however, know better 😉