atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX Networking Cat5 e

Does anyone know the max distance cat5 e will go

100 Meters -you have to convert that to feet. This metric system still confuses me

Roughly 300 feet , this can be extended with a repeater, router, switch or hub. keep it away from power lines and florescent lights.

[This message has been edited by ocmacman (edited April 08, 2002).]

the actual specs are 330 feet maximum. I have actually tested runs that have been farther, but my general expierence is anything over 300 feet, and you are asking for problems. When we spec jobs, if we have runs in excess of that, we usually put fiber and a 100 mbps switch. The difference between a switch and a hub, is the switch will run each port at 100 mbps, while the hub will run all ports at a maximum of 100 mbps. this usually is not a big deal unless you have alot of data to send. Then the extra bandwidth is worth it. If you use Fiber, you should try to have a minimum of 4 strands. You can make a redundant network or have a couple of strands extra in case something happens.

Well all, we put one in today that was 460ft and it works great. It pinged at 40. Go figure huh.

[This message has been edited by dtmf (edited April 10, 2002).]

I am curious, did you test near end and far end cross talk with a cable tester? Did it pass? If so, that's pretty impressive! What brand of cable was it, and what type of jacks did you use?

DTMF you da Man!!
I guess its hard work being that good!!

[This message has been edited by Crabb (edited April 11, 2002).]

Yes we put the tester on it and it passed with flying colors, I am just as suprised as you are. I though that we would have to repeat it in the middle. We used shielded cat5e Commscope cable. No jacks we put it end to end. You know I kind-of wish it didn't work because now I'm gonna have to see how far we can go.

[This message has been edited by dtmf (edited April 11, 2002).]

Yeah, and you gonna miss out on selling all the expensive fiber riser and converters!

Naw, we still sale those for building to building. This was a lets see what happens deal.

It's either you pay me now or you pay me later.
probally both

I have a whole building with runs ranging from 50 to over 500 feet of Plentum cat5 not even cat 5e and have had no complaints whatsoever. I am not sure what kind of data or how much they send, but it has been working like this for 4 years. It was my first data job and everything was home run. I use only allen-tel products. At the time, i never gave distance a second thought. (WHEW!! dang lucky i guess)The only thing I tested was for shorts and opens and crossed pairs. HMMMM.... Brad

OK folks - It looks as if no one here seems to know WHY the spec is 330 ft. It has to do NOT with signal degredatiuon so much as with the timing used in the collision avoidance for ethernet. The further the run, the longer signal takes to get from point A to point B. That means there can be to long a gap between the time of the start of transmission and the time the signal is heard on the other end. If the other end tries to transmit during the gap, since it doesn't hear anyhting on the wire... bang! both packets interfere with each other and get trashed. You have a collision. You can go WAY over 330 ft in many cases, but if you are not using a switch, you will get a LOT of collisions. That is of course a moot point if you are using a switch - I've seen 700ft runs off switches that had NO problems at all when I slapped a sniffer on and looked for errors. Depends on the signal strength the devices (on BOTH ends) put out and the quality of the cable - the lower the attenuation the longer ya can go.

Then again, I have also seen 100mbs ethernet run over a 50ft cable run of silver satin (ie: flat, non twisted pair cable) with not ALL that many errors. :-)