CAT5 in a FTTP property

We are always being reminded that for a speed test, you should use a wired connection and not WiFi. Seems to make good sense.

But what if, like me, you used CAT5 some years go (2002/3 in my case) to give a wired connection to various devices around the house?

So, if/when I can get FTTP, how much degradation will I see due to a 5 metre length of CAT5 and not CAT6 between the Router and a 24 port Gigabit switch? The Router being connected to the ONT via 50cm of CAT6? To replace that 5 metres of CAT5 would be a right pain.

Very hypothetical at the moment since no info on when FTTP will be available, nor of course at what speed.

Cheers!

No degradation, ethernet either works at full speed or not at all, and over 5m you could use any cable you liked (not that I suggest you do).

Are you sure about that ?

I have a ‘flat’ 15m ethernet cable , supplied with a BT TV box some years ago. It will not allow throughput speeds over 100 meg ...... same two end points, and a pukka cable show just shy of 300.

If cat5 is/was OK for any speed, why has cat 6 and 7 been brought out ?

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

I have a ‘flat’ 15m ethernet cable , supplied with a BT TV box some years ago. It will not allow throughput speeds over 100 meg ...... same two end points, and a pukka cable show just shy of 300

Those BT TV ethernet cables are only wired with 2 pairs not 4 so only capable of Fast Ethernet speeds.

If cat5 is/was OK for any speed, why has cat 6 and 7 been brought out ?

You might get gigabit over cat5 but it could be a bit hit and miss.
I have HDMI extenders working over about 20m of cat6. Tried with cat 5 and was iffy on a 10m cable.

In reply to a post by witchunt:

You might get gigabit over cat5 but it could be a bit hit and miss.
I have HDMI extenders working over about 20m of cat6. Tried with cat 5 and was iffy on a 10m cable.

I've had read speeds of more than 700Mbps over the LAN when just using a 20 metre cat5e 100% copper ethernet patch cable for testing purposes during an installation...I would think 5 metres of solid core 100% copper cat5 would be adequate for the OP's hypothetical FTTP purposes assuming the positioning of the ONT etc.?

Edited by 4M2 (Fri 04-Dec-20 18:06:44)

I am sure about that...the comment about 'any' cable was a but tongue in cheek but Cat5 over 5m will be no problem at 1Gbps. I have done it many times.

Ethernet connects at 10, 100, 1000Mbps - you may not get that throughput but a 1Gbps ethernet cannot 'negotiate' down to 300Mbps.

Are we talking Cat5 or Cat5e?

if the cable link speed is showing 1000 Mbps then the cable is good.

In reply to a post by witchunt:

You might get gigabit over cat5 but it could be a bit hit and miss.
I have HDMI extenders working over about 20m of cat6. Tried with cat 5 and was iffy on a 10m cable.

Depends on the length of cat5, but we routinely used cat5e to feed gigabit to the desk in corporate buildings.

Gigabit works fine on 5e in pretty much any domestic environment. Better to buy lengths to fit, with connectors pre applied (with boots to protect the tag) as the usual point of failure is the crimp point. I'm rubbish at crimping, but I do it twice a year, some colleagues can do 50 a day!

HDMI signals can run faster than gigabit, so a better cable is a good investment, especially if you're up to HDMI 1.4 or higher (e.g. 2.0 for 4K).

Edited by jchamier (Fri 04-Dec-20 18:31:07)

I have CAT5e at home and as do many of the buildings at work, gives GB to the desktop from the switch and have no issue what so ever.

Them flat cables want putting in the bin and a proper network cable putting in its place.

CAT 6 can deliver 10GB but I think its only at less than 50m distance. CAT5e they recommend a run on no more than 90 to 100m all in from switch to device.