Home Cabling Query

[AmazingGecko]

Just had the ISP (in UK) install a telephone socket so that we can enjoy broadband in the home and realised after the work had been done that the socket is one room away from where the main desktop PC is situated. I realise now that I'll have to install cable between them but want to know which option below is more preferable in terms of maintaining a reliable connection:

1. Leave router close to telephone socket with short RJ11 cable length and extend the LAN using RJ45 network cable to the desktop PC
2. Move router close to desktop PC and install one continuous RJ11 cable from telephone socket to the router and use a standard 1m RJ45 network cable from there to the destop PC

Sorry, I'm not too hot on the industry cabling standards - I'm sure you'll know what I mean by RJ11/RJ45 cables.

Appreciate any advice you can give me.

Thanks

James

[submix8c]

I have a pretty long RJ11 running to my modem (approx. 50 ft) and fairly short RJ45 (15 ft and less) cables. I will venture to say as long as the max acceptable lengths are not exceed and there's no interference you should be ok either way.

[tain]

Unless you are building custom cables which might exceed specified standards then you should be either way.

[jaclaz]

I will venture to say as long as the max acceptable lengths are not exceed and there's no interference you should be ok either way.

Well, that is a pretty much strong statement.

Unless you are building custom cables which might exceed specified standards then you should be either way.

Really?

I presume that also commercially available cables exceeding specified standards are a no-no.

I will then venture to say that if it works, it works, if it doesn't, it does not.

Come on ...

@AmazingGecko

Generally speaking the good thing about standards are that there are so many of them....

A CAT5 cable (the RJ45 you mentioned) can be as long as 100 mt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable

for 100 Mb connections.

For Gb connections you'd better go for a CAT6 cable (still RJ45 connector) that can go as well up to 100 m (and you can have as well some 37 m if using it on a 10 Gb connection).

A RJ11 cable can be with 2, 4 or even 6 wires.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_plug

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RJ11#RJ11

The most common is using normally a 6P4C RJ14 connector, i.e. it is 4 wires, of which two are unused, the additional unused wires may provide a primitive form of shielding, while a 2 wires connection is better avoided if not for very short extensions, a 4 wires one may do.

There is no actual standard about length of a phone line extension, BUT you have to be aware that whenever signals are transmitted "solid copper" has dramatically better performance than "stranded" wire AND signal transmission MUST be carried over twisted pair cable to limit "cross-talking" and interferences with other cables and/or radio signals, so, if you are planning to use some "solid copper" twisted pair cable it may do, simply forget about stranded cable or non-twisted pair ones(as many commercially available extension cords use).

BUT, follow me please, if you have the router close to the telephone socket and a CAT5 or CAT6 extension cable to your PC (or hub or intralan router), you have at both ends of the cable an "active" device under your control (i.e. something that you can use to troubleshoot an issue - if any), whilst if you put an extension telephone cable between router and phone socket, that length of cable will be nothing but an extension of the telephone line, on one end you will have the router (under your control) on the other end there will be the ISP device(s), in case of troubles the ISP won't be able to detect if there is a problem on "their" line (up to the wall socket) or after it.

Typically they will ask you how far is the router from the socket and ask you to put it as near to it as possible (i.e. with an as short as possible extension cable), and IF a technician is sent to solve the problem AND the cause of the issue is attributed (and you have no way on earth to be sure that it is the actual case) to "your" extension cable, they may even bill you for the intervention.

On the other hand, the ADSL/DSL technology is designed to cover with "good" bandwidth approximately 2 km distances over copper wire:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_subscriber_line

typically having a degrading of bandwidth, with behaviour like the following:

24 Mbit/s -> 1 km

20 Mbit/s -> 1.6 km

12 Mbit/s -> 2.5 km

8 Mbit/s -> 3.0 km

4 Mbit/s -> 3.9 km

Even if the 5/10/15 meters of the telephone line extension you may need are very little when compared to the amount of cable needed to have an attenuation of the signal, they may contribute to it, and surely - depending on the quality of the cable used and if it goes near other cables - they are an "entrance point" for interferences.

So BOTH "common sense" and technical reasons suggest (if possible) to put the router near the telco/ISP wall socket and to use CAT5 or CAT6 cable connected to the router to connect to devices in other rooms.

Mind you the above does not mean that extending the telephone line won't work, only that by doing that you are introducing a possible cause of issue (and we have anyway Murphy's Law waiting to prove itself right once again )

In the same spirit of the previous replies, do the right thing:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/quotes?item=qt0362962

jaclaz

[tain]

I agree with everything you wrote, jaclaz. I used to get all wrapped up in these things but haven't seen them cause any real-world problems in so long that I rarely go back to these principles of length/interference/attenuation/etc. For the average person using decent cables and modern equipment, he should be fine. Not optimal, but fine. The fine vs. optimal point is one to consider. WIth modern equipment negotiating a slower speed for slow/noisy links it is common to see reduced throughput in such scenarios. But when grandpa's A/B/G/N wifi link negotiates down to B due to a noisy environment...well his email will still load just as fast. (excuse the wifi example, I'm too tired and lazy to rewrite )

[jaclaz]

But when grandpa's A/B/G/N wifi link negotiates down to B due to a noisy environment...well his email will still load just as fast.

Sure , but his streaming HD/1080p p0rn may stutter a bit .

jaclaz

[AmazingGecko]

Thanks to you all for the advice and especially the comprehensive post by jaclaz in language I understand! I've gone ahead and ordered Cat5e cable and will leave the router/hub close to the telephone socket. The potential support issues that could occur were good enough reasons for me.

Cheers

James