Differentiate between Ethernet Cables

[Sam2133]

I moved into a home that has Ethernet cables in the walls and all my computer's are gigabyte Ethernet ports, same as my router and the cables I use to connect my PC to the Ethernet ports in the wall, however the Ethernet cables used to wire the home are not accessible from the home

How do I run a test of some kind, or do something to be able to find out what the Ethernet cable is, cat5 or 5e or cat6?
Is there any equipment or anything I can do to figure out what kind of cable was used to do the Ethernet wiring in the home before I moved here?
I can't figure out the cables in the walls are even capable of doing more then 100mb and my internet speed is 1GB And I have 9 computer's wired thru the internet eternet wiring of the home by plugging the computers into the Ethernet ports in the wall of the home (they all go to one central location where the router is)

Pls help, I want to clearly find out what type of Ethernet the home is wired with, and if I'm even able to use the full 1GB if my home is wired with old Cat5 cables that can't handle the full 1gb internet speed I'm paying for

Please help!

 

[VirtualLarry]

and if I'm even able to use the full 1GB if my home is wired with old Cat5 cables that can't handle the full 1gb internet speed I'm paying for

Run a speedtest on all of the PCs? Seriously, though, if you want to know for sure, get a low-voltage / computer wiring installer in there, with a Fluke meter, and get them to "certify" your cabling, for 1GBit/sec operation. They'll test each cable with a meter, and tell you if that segment passes. It won't be cheap, though. Doing speedtests is cheaper.

Chances are, it's wired with Cat5e, that's been the standard for most of the last 10 years, up until maybe a year or two ago, then it might be Cat6a. You CAN run Gigabit over Cat5e, just not much 10GbE. You can run 10GbE over Cat6a.

If it was wired for PHONE, and then the lines CONVERTED into ethernet, then it's probably just Cat5 (no E), and you're probably screwed. But if it was INTENTIONALLY wired for networking, it's most likely Cat5e, if done in the last 10, maybe 15 years.

Edit: Btw, is the switch that they are all terminating into, a Gigabit Ethernet switch? If it's only 10/100, even if you have Cat5e wiring, then your connection speeds will be limited to 100Mbit/sec. So, verify that the switch is up-to-date.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Overall, what Larry said.

1. Use a tool designed to test cabling.

2. Inspect the cable jacket

3. use speed testing either external or software like iperf for internal LAN to LAN testing.

 

[sdifox]

Or just check the wire jacket at the wiring closet where they all terminate too. Google the model and it will tell you what category it is if it is not already printed.

 

[JackMDS]

Maybe this can Help.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NDWBGHS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[mxnerd]

Most ethernet cable tester that's affordable for end user to buy can only test connections, not speed.

Ethernet cable tester that can test speed is very expensive, it does not make sense for end user to buy one just for testing.

Just do what VL, ch33 & sdi suggested.

Or plug in a PC / Laptop with gigabit ethernet port and cat5e cable and the other side plug in a gigabit switch/router and cat5e cable, see if the gigabit LED indicator on the switch/router is on, that's it.

You can also remove ethernet port's wall faceplate and if cable is long enough, you can pull it out and look at cable's label, you probably will see what kind of cable it is.

==

Reality is, if cat5 cable is short enough, it can still run at 1G speed.

 

[Sam2133]

This building was built in 2005, completed in 2006, and I don't know if they purchased Cat5 or Cat5e, and I have no idea how to test it since the wires are in the walls and not accessible by someone with my limited knowledge (don’t want to damage anything)

If a speed test would work I would love to do that, but how do I do that?
I have a Linksys EA9500 5200AC WiFi router, its 400 dollars today, so it’s very new, but how do I test it to find out what kind of cables I have
Not qualify of signal, but capable download and upload speeds, I'm not aware of any options on my router that tells me what speed the cables are, nor any lights that signal Ethernet type, just a light per port that's there to tell you it's activate

 

[sdifox]

This building was built in 2005, completed in 2006, and I don't know if they purchased Cat5 or Cat5e, and I have no idea how to test it since the wires are in the walls and not accessible by someone with my limited knowledge (don’t want to damage anything)

If a speed test would work I would love to do that, but how do I do that?
I have a Linksys EA9500 5200AC WiFi router, its 400 dollars today, so it’s very new, but how do I test it to find out what kind of cables I have
Not qualify of signal, but capable download and upload speeds, I'm not aware of any options on my router that tells me what speed the cables are, nor any lights that signal Ethernet type, just a light per port that's there to tell you it's activate

Hook up two computers through one stretch of the in wall cable and copy a big file between them. if it goes at more than 20 megabyte per second it is gigabit. 100mbps only gets you around 12 megabyte per second.

 

[mxnerd]

If your house was bulit in 2005, the cable should be Cat5e.

Cat5 cable has been deprecated in 2001.

All software test methods can only tell you what speed the cable is capable of running at.

There is no way to tell what kind of cable is in the wall unless you pull it out and look at the printed label.

==

Many ethernet switch/router use different color of led indicator to tell you what speed it's running.

Find the PDF manual of your product and it will tell you.

 

[ch33zw1z]

This building was built in 2005, completed in 2006, and I don't know if they purchased Cat5 or Cat5e, and I have no idea how to test it since the wires are in the walls and not accessible by someone with my limited knowledge (don’t want to damage anything)

If a speed test would work I would love to do that, but how do I do that?
I have a Linksys EA9500 5200AC WiFi router, its 400 dollars today, so it’s very new, but how do I test it to find out what kind of cables I have
Not qualify of signal, but capable download and upload speeds, I'm not aware of any options on my router that tells me what speed the cables are, nor any lights that signal Ethernet type, just a light per port that's there to tell you it's activate

https://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-EA9500/

user guide http://downloads.linksys.com/downloads/userguide/EA9500-UG_20160314.pdf (not the English version?)

https://www.linksys.com/us/support-article?articleNum=178062

so I just dug that info up for you, just from linksys' website.

Start with the basics, when you connect a client PC, view the network properties on the PC and see what link speed was negotiated. if not at 1000Mbps (and 1000 was expected), start your troubleshooting at the physical layer. IE cabling, jack integrity, terminations etc...

testing throughput can be done using sdifox's method, which is a good test of both the network and clients abilities

I like to test also using iperf, a free piece of software that runs inside memory so the disks aren't a factor (like large file copies from disk to disk over the LAN)

1. download iperf https://iperf.fr/
2. connect two client PC's to the network, ensure they're negotiating at the speed that's possible, and have a copy of iperf on each PC, and note the IP address for each PC
3. on one PC, CLI to the directory you saved iperf to, and run this command to initiate the iperf server: iperf.exe -s
4. on the other PC, CLI to the directory you saved iperf to, and run this command to test the connection to the first PC: iperf.exe -c ip_address_of_first_pc

iperf is a very handy testing tool, once you get the hang of it, you can modify settings if you like, but I find the default testing to be helpful enough.