Twisted Pairs for data

[The Green Bean]

Edited Post:

My new house cable has data/telephone cables installed. The installed cable is from a local cable company http://ponycables.com/telephone.htm

I don't think they meet CAT5 standard because the wire only says PONY Cables 0.6mm. There are 5 pairs of loosely twisted copper wires of 0.6mm. Do you think they will carry data? The website has two different sections for telephone and Ethernet (Cat 5 and 6) but the telephone wires are apparently designed to carry voice and data.

Is there any specifications for the twisted pairs? How do I determine the quality of the wire.


Original Post:

I had recently posted a thread about a new house and how the networking should be done. I had asked the construction manager specifically to install ethernet data cabling. However, I was out of town during this phase and instead he used regular copper wire.

What is done is done. The dry walls have been completed. I have two options:

1) have the ethernet wires run through outside the walls (which will look ugly and my wife hates that).

2) Use power line connections.

Thing to consider are:

1) I have more than one phase legs with one electricity meter. Will connections work through them?

2) What sort of latencies will I get? I don't really care for throughput speeds and anything above 20mbps is enough.

Edit: What's the difference between telephone and ethernet wires?

 

[VirtualLarry]

wow, just wow. In this day and age, construction managers should know what ethernet is, and what it's for.

 

[Red Dawn]

wow, just wow. In this day and age, construction managers should know what ethernet is, and what it's for.

I believe he lives in Pakistan.

 

[Lemon law]

To TGB,

My first question is why not go with wireless N router rather than powerlines that is a less well known option? Wireless will go easily through multiple layers of drywall.

But phones lines are usually two pairs of 22 or 24 gage copper wire with only one pair used, and ethernet cable is very tightly twisted much heavier gage wires conisting of 8 separate strands. Which is why ethernet cable can support much longer runs up to 300 feet without losing signal.

And other suggestion which may mollify your wife, a wire running down the middle of a wall is easily visually noticed, but if the wire comes down in the corner of a wall and a wall, can easily be hidden behind a piece of wood trim.

 

[The Green Bean]

The wire in question has more than 2 strands (I'm guessing 8) and so there is a good chance that the wire is actually Cat 5 (the telephone wires in my current house are). However, they wires did not look twisted (physically). I only checked the exposed end without ripping off the grey main wire. I will check back tomorrow morning. I telephoned a guy who helps with networking at my place and he said that if the wire has 8 strands it will support both telephone and data, otherwise only one. He will come and check on Monday.

The architect apparently thought we needed provision for "internet" which he thought meant ADSL through phone lines are wireless.

The house in Question is ground+ 1+basement and one wireless N router will not do. Besides, wireless has high latency and makes it less suitable for gaming.

 

[The Green Bean]

The installed cable is from a local cable company http://ponycables.com/telephone.htm

I don't think they meet CAT5 standard because the wire only says PONY Cables 0.6mm. There are 5 pairs of loosely twisted wires of 0.6mm. Do you think they will carry data? The website has two different sections for telephone and Ethernet (Cat 5 and 6) but the telephone wires are apparently designed to carry voice and data.

 

[wirednuts]

if the wires are not twisted, then good luck... it probably wont even connect at 1mbs. if they are twisted, even though it might not meet cat5 standard, you probably will get some decent speeds. cat5 standard actually meets 1GB specs if you only have short runs....

 

[The Green Bean]

if the wires are not twisted, then good luck... it probably wont even connect at 1mbs. if they are twisted, even though it might not meet cat5 standard, you probably will get some decent speeds. cat5 standard actually meets 1GB specs if you only have short runs....

The wires are apparently twisted at different lengths. I need about 50mbps, what are the chances I will get that? Can CAT3 wire get 100mbps using 4 pairs? Is there a way to test the speed of two ends?

 

[Mark R]

The wires are apparently twisted at different lengths. I need about 50mbps, what are the chances I will get that? Can CAT3 wire get 100mbps using 4 pairs? Is there a way to test the speed of two ends?

It can, but only with extremely rare (and now obsolete) 100Base-T4 network cards and hubs. It is impossible to buy this equipment new, and nearly impossible to buy it used.

However, this cable does not appear event to be category 3, and is unlikely even to achieve 10 megabit networking requirements, except at very short distances. You can buy/hire network cabling testers, but they are very expensive. Fore a home network it is often easier, just to test the wiring to see if it works. You may find that for very short runs within a small house, that it works fine.

 

[The Green Bean]

I will ask someone to test the cable at long range with data and see what the results are. Then ill see what alternatives I have. The pairs ARE twisted but perhaps not as tightly as 6 twists for every 5cm. There may be 3 twists for that long. Otherwise the specs seem to match CAT5 with 24awg (whatever that means) and the thickness of the conducting wire @0.6 mm. Also the individual wires are solid, not strands. Does that make a difference?

 

[The Green Bean]

The network admin at my office said that the cable should run 100-tx easily but might not be able to run at gig speeds because the copper wires aren't the best quality. Good enough for now.

 

[seepy83]

Also the individual wires are solid, not strands. Does that make a difference?

That's what you want to use for running cables inside your walls. Make sure you have them puched down to jacks and/or a patch panel on each end. Do not try to crimp them down to RJ45 connectors.