Outdoor Wired Networking

afog05

Member
Feb 6, 2002
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Hi all, this is my first post. Well here goes, I am gonna wire cable out the window of my room have it go along the roof and then into the window of another room. I cant find any outdoor spec cat5-e cable. and i am wondering what is the length limitation of cat-5e cable from the switch? I bought a siemens router/4port switch. I am excited that i will now be able to share my broadband between the two computers. Does the cable have to be Patch cable? what is the difference between patch and ?udp?(cant remember the name) cable? Thanks in advance.
 

gaidin123

Senior member
May 5, 2000
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First off, welcome to the Anandtech forums! You've come to the right place with your question...Secondly, you're going to find several very knowledgable people who will tell you that running outdoor Cat5 is a bad idea all the time. It's dangerous, especially in any thunderstorm.

There is one company which makes some kind of outdoor ethernet cable (can't remember name, do a search here and it might be in the forum archives). However it's probably pretty expensive so you're best bet if you're set on doing this would be to insulate the cable somehow in a conduit but I'm definitely not the person to tell you what kind of conduit or how to do it. I'll leave that for the real wire people to tell you. :)

The other kind of patch cable is Plenum. The cable is insulated against harsher environments than standard Cat5e and won't help in spreading a fire should one occur.

I believe the length limit of Cat5 ethernet is somewhere around a few hundred feet but you can start to have problems going over 100-150'.

Good luck but please try to be safe! :)

Gaidin
 

ktwebb

Platinum Member
Nov 20, 1999
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Well, the spec is 100 meters, 328 feet w/o a repeater and you wont have any problems over 100 feet unless you have a bad kink or something of that nature. Attenuation doesnt start at 100 feet. But it is a bad idea to run exposed cable outside period. People do it, but be aware you are risking all hardware that the cable is physically attached to. Perhaps a PVC housing would offer better protection but its still a risk. Others will follow me with more detailed and articulate reasons to not do it I am sure, but I have run thousands of feet of cable, with BICSI certified techs, and they would not run exposed outdoor cable.
 

Garion

Platinum Member
Apr 23, 2001
2,331
7
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Put it this way.. There's another phrase to describe "a long run of unshielded, ungrounded copper wire across the roof of a house" - It's called "Lightning Rod". Running ungrounded cable like that is a major danger to your equipment and, literally, to your life. If you were on your computer and the cable got hit with a strike, it could very easily end up running through your body. Not, generally speaking, a good thing.

Depending on the distance, I'd stick with running it in the walls or using some kind of wireless network. It's a bit of cash, but cheaper than major hospital bills or a funeral..

(OK, so I'm being a bit melodromatic, but I think you get the point)

- G
 

ScottMac

Moderator<br>Networking<br>Elite member
Mar 19, 2001
5,471
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As covered in the past...and in the grand tradition of JackMDS...my first attempt at linkification:

"I wanna run cable outside"

A bad idea. But since death or loss of property doesn't seem to stop folks who have their mind made up (note the number of people killed running across the tracks in fron of a train)

SO...yer gonna do it anyway.......here's how.

Gawd, I hope this works...if you end up on a kinky sheep-oriented site...what can I say, I gave it my best shot.....


FWIW

Scott
 

afog05

Member
Feb 6, 2002
26
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Thanks for all the replies. I dont think i will be wiring outdoors anymore :eek:. oh well. I would still like to do wired networking though. The problem is i can NOT under any circumstances have this visible cable running between the rooms, and i cannot drill holes in the house. (we are renting). I would like to stay away from wireless just because it is kinda expensive (i admit it has dropped ALOT in price). So i need to come up with a solution on where to run the cable from my room to the office. The rooms are on the same floor and i would say take about 50 feet of cable. Any ideas on how to conceal the cable visually? I am thinking of running it along the floor or under the carpeting on the sides of the room.(the carpet is pretty well tacked down) :(. Anyone have any ideas? and can anyone give me some definitions on the different trypes of cable? i have seen patch, udp, plenum, and all different names. I know that the difference between the cat-1,2,3,4 and so on cables is speed. Man am i clueless. Can anyone reccomend to me what cable i need for indoor wiring to cable broadband on a lan? Thanks again
 

jimmyhaha

Platinum Member
Jan 7, 2001
2,851
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hi junior

same problem here..

I use HPNA NIC, ~ $20 a pair on eaby
10MB transfer rate, use phoneline

if u don't do a lot of file transfer, HPNA is good

 

afog05

Member
Feb 6, 2002
26
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I originally wanted to go phone line Home Pna but it seems so unadopted that it would not be worth it. you dont even need a hub for home pna do you? and do you know how far away home pna 3.0 is? Thanks in advance
 

ScottMac

Moderator<br>Networking<br>Elite member
Mar 19, 2001
5,471
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Panduit (wiremold) and some other vendors make an adhesive or screw-on cable channel (raceway). The idea is that the channel is attached to the wall, frequently just above the baseboard, then the cable goes in the channel, out of sight, and removable (should be OK with the landlord...don't forget to get permission). You get 90 meters (~270 feet), which should be enough to get around the floor.

Home depot carries a line of surface-mount channel, check it out. In addition to the straight channel sections, there are inside corner pieces, outside corner pieces, T-connectors, and surface-mount boxes, so you can put in standard information outlet plates.

Most commercial electronics suppliers also carry this kind of product, as well as Anixter, Grainger, and Graybar. It's not too expensive....not cheap either....but it may be your only safe option.

Good Luck

Scott
 

afog05

Member
Feb 6, 2002
26
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0
Thanks man looks like ill be droppin by home depot soon, what kinda cable do i want, patch?
 

ktwebb

Platinum Member
Nov 20, 1999
2,488
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Removable Panduit? Hmmmm. Well, yeah, in theory. From my experience, panduit, or any brand wire molding with adhesive tends to make a mess when you try to remove it. Honestly though, I have put up thousands of feet but removed very little. What I have removed, usually just moving after the customer changed their mind or we made a mistake, its pretty ugly. The adhesive strips tend to rip and stick to the wall, half coming off and half staying on. We usually are working with wood panelling in the environment we work in, so we just use putty knives to remove what's left but might not be so easy on sheetrock. Metal raceway is a little more expensive, well alot if you buy alot, but might be a beter choice if your putting it on sheetrock or drywall. At least you can fill in the holes from the screws.
 

ScottMac

Moderator<br>Networking<br>Elite member
Mar 19, 2001
5,471
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Maybe use drywall screws through the back instead of the faom adhesive (Don't forget to dril pilot holes through the Wiremold).

Or maybe stick it to the wooden baseboard instead of the wall. THe 1" stuff is fairly unbotrusive.

If you're going to H.D., I haven't seen Cat 5 there for a while, only Cat5e. Make sure you buy connectors that are specifically rated for Cat5/5e, and if you use the info outlet plates, make sure the keystone inserts are also rated Cat 5/5e. If you stick an unrated/unlabeled component in the line anywhere, it shoots the specification in the foot.

Good Luck

Scott
 

Bleep

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,972
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Set up a thin net (Coax) network. Use a 10 base T card and a 10 base T hub. Run a piece of coax just like the cable company. You might try and put a splitter on your end and run the cable to the other apartment. Get a cable modem for the other machine.
Bleep