I know that there are standards for cable lengths. I got a call from a summer camp that needs a data drop in an out building that is 600 feet from the switch, not sure why. I looked at fiber but there is the cost problem. What is the maximium distance that someone has run data on cat 5E? I did one install at 425 feet, small switch at each end to boost the signal. I am going to look at a wireless point to point. Thanks.

100 meters (328 feet) is the maximum length you are supposed to run, but we all know that you can push that a bit. I don't know about 600 feet though.

You can purchase direct-burial fiber cable that is pre-terminated at the factory and a pair of media converters for a very reasonable price. I think you will find that approach to be much less expensive than wireless.

I got one here at our house that is 525ft.
Works like a top for what we use it for.
Just a Internet connection to my garage.
I wouldn't attempt that for a customer, because by theory 328ft is the limit.

The limit is the point where it may no longer pass a cert test, doesn't mean it won't work.

Very true Bill.
But the way I look at it. If we run a extended length run for a customer and it doesn't work, then it is our fault and the customer shouldn't have to pay us. And I don't like working for free.

If a customer called and asked for a connection 600ft away. The only way we would touch it would be fiber or point to point wireless.

I hear ya there Mike. I probably wouldn't do it for a customer, but wouldn't hesitate doing for myself.

Had a cable at 350' that wouldn't work at full-duplex. (EC installed cable).

Even if you can get it to connect at 600', you may also be introducing noise into the setup. Plus, you're giving a nice path for lightning to wipe out their network.

You need to go with the fiber.

If you have an existing phone line to that location

this will work https://www.versatek.com/products/vxveb160r2.htm

The defined limit is ≈ 328 feet WITHOUT a repeater. This is an old definition that was driven largely by problems with late collisions on coax cable. I leave it to you to discover the physical reality of how far you can run the quality of cable purchased.

Alternatively, split the run in two by putting an inexpensive switch in the middle. Doing so will keep you within the rules about distance.

I was going to post this a few weeks ago but forgot.

Anyway, a year ago I had a customer that needed a data connection about 450’ and they were not willing to pay for fiber or wireless. We let them know there was a good chance we could do this with copper but no guarantees. They dug the trench and we laid in some direct bury 5e; it worked like a champ.

Fast forward to a month ago. Same customer calls to let us know while they were excavating for a concrete slab they “accidentally” dug up the cable and wanted us to come out and take look. They had actually placed conduit underneath the slab before they poured and ask if we could just splice at the point of the break. Ok, so we pull in 150’ of OSP 5e through their conduit, do the connections to the existing direct bury, trim out the other end, test; and NO GO. Test result show that there was another break in the line about 20’ past the splice. So we dig it up and sure enough there was a break. At this point I decided to do another short splice since we didn’t have enough wire to run a new piece of OSP. This time continuity test pass and network seemed to work just fine. Internet, SQL data, and VoIP.

Total length, 560’ with 2 buried splices.

Keep in mind all this was done with the customers understanding that they would pay regardless if it worked.

Giddy up.

I've used products similar to the Versatek product named above. They work very well as advertised. Had a customer who had an existing OPE to his shed coming off of his house and wanted to share his DSL connection in his shop from the house. Plugged in an ethernet switch at the house and one of these HPNA devices on each end, and worked like a charm. No programming, just plugin and go.

I just did the same thing. We had a 25 pair PE39 cable between the locations for telephone extensions. We used this on one pair. Worked like a charm and even has a built in switch.

-Hal

In the days before DSL, one local hospital used to run RS232 data on dark circuit pairs. I think their longest run was 10500 cable feet, but they were only pushing 14.4 kbs over the pair with flow control. Sure beat paying the phone company for ISDN or leased lines.

The 100m distance is the result not of how long the connection can be, but instead is a factor of how long it takes for a packet to be detected by a device on the other end of the cable for collision avoidance purposes. If the link you are trying to run will tollerate a high error/collision rate, then you could go farther than the 100m limit. It probably just wouldn't certify.

In addition to the putting a switch in the middle you could even power that switch over the unused pairs in the 100mBit cable. You would probably need to use both pairs to get the current and voltage you need out to the switch, but a switch in a bucket is nothing new. Though I'd want to test it before selling it to a customer. All you would need is a couple partial boxes to test with.

IP, X.25, Frame Relay, ATM and other packetized voice/data techniques were designed to handle communciations problems during enormous disasters. Though flexable, those techniques aren't necessarily suitable when speed is concerned.

That's why a file transfer with a 56K modem (using Z-Modem protocol) is far, far faster at transferring a file compared to the same transfer using IP over a 56K dedicated circuit.

I'd be interested in knowing what end-to-end communications problem it is that you're trying to solve.

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