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Author Topic: Ethernet Cabling Question  (Read 1907 times)

banger

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Ethernet Cabling Question
« on: December 24, 2020, 12:44:48 AM »

I am using a 30m ethernet cat 5a cable from downstairs to upstairs. Downstairs is a TTB router connected to the phone via a Zyxel VMG-1312-B10A which connected to the phone. The VMG is connected to WAN port on the TTB router and the TTB router is connected on port 1 to a patch cable which is connected to a RJ45 socket which has the 30m ethernet cable punched in. Upstairs is an Asus RT-AC68U being used as as an access point again with socket and patch cable arrangement to the Asus WAN port.

My problem is that as far as I can remember I wired the RJ 45 sockets as all wires on the CAT5a are connected which should give me a 1000 BASE T connection between the TTB and Asus routers. For the immediate term this is not a problem as the fastest download I can get is 60mbps. The link is showing as 100 BASE T on the Asus.

If I ever get FTTP I would need the link to be 1000 BASE T to cope with over 100 mbps speeds. What have I done wrong, is there a difference in 100 BASE T and 1000 BASE T wiring? Why is the link negotiating 100mbps?
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Tim
talktalkbusiness.net & freenetname
Asus RT-AC68U and ZyXEL VMG1312-B10A Bridge on 80 Meg TTB Fibre

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1502566996147131655

banger

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2020, 02:39:29 AM »

I have found a workaround. Using the Asus router as a repeater gets me a link of 700mbps between downstairs and upstairs, better than 100mbps but still doesn't solve the cable problem.
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Tim
talktalkbusiness.net & freenetname
Asus RT-AC68U and ZyXEL VMG1312-B10A Bridge on 80 Meg TTB Fibre

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1502566996147131655

tubaman

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #2 on: December 24, 2020, 08:01:36 AM »

If you've used all eight wires then it should be connecting at 1000 if the wiring is correct (and the TTB and ASUS devices do appear to support that).
The first thing I'd do would be to bring the ASUS downstairs and connect it with a standard patch lead to see if that give 1000Mbps. If it does then the wiring is the issue.
 :)
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Ronski

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #3 on: December 24, 2020, 08:26:05 AM »

There are two wiring standards 568A and 568B, you should wire everything to one standard, personally I use the B at home because I remember B as best, not because it is, simply because that's the way I remember what I use.

I'm not sure what happens if you wire either end differently, but it may be the cause, it simply could be one or more wires not inserted properly. 1Gbps requires 4 pairs, 100mb only two pairs, so if one of the 4 pairs are not connected properly it may default to 100mb.

But as mentioned in the post above check the equipment first as that easiest.
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banger

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #4 on: December 24, 2020, 08:33:10 AM »



Solved. The moral of the story is not all patch cables are equal. Upstairs I was using a VMG-1312-B10A patch cable (yellow) from socket to Asus. When I connected the Asus and TTB router still reporting 100mb. Got the patch cable from the TTB router and bingo 1gbps. So swapped the patch cable from Asus to socket for TTB cable and voila the above picture.
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Tim
talktalkbusiness.net & freenetname
Asus RT-AC68U and ZyXEL VMG1312-B10A Bridge on 80 Meg TTB Fibre

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1502566996147131655

Ronski

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #5 on: December 24, 2020, 08:35:17 AM »

That's good, perhaps a damaged cable.
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banger

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #6 on: December 24, 2020, 08:51:27 AM »

Perhaps but I have several yellow cables from Zyxel devices and all show the same low speed. Unfortunately I cant find my cable tester to see if they are crossover or straight which maybe the problem?
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Tim
talktalkbusiness.net & freenetname
Asus RT-AC68U and ZyXEL VMG1312-B10A Bridge on 80 Meg TTB Fibre

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1502566996147131655

tubaman

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #7 on: December 24, 2020, 09:20:54 AM »

Perhaps but I have several yellow cables from Zyxel devices and all show the same low speed. Unfortunately I cant find my cable tester to see if they are crossover or straight which maybe the problem?
I think some of the Zyxel cables are only 100Mbps 4-wire ones. That makes sense if supplied with say a 1312 as it only has 100Mbps ports.
You can usually see how many wires it has by looking at the plugs.
 :)
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banger

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #8 on: December 24, 2020, 09:56:58 AM »

I think some of the Zyxel cables are only 100Mbps 4-wire ones. That makes sense if supplied with say a 1312 as it only has 100Mbps ports.
You can usually see how many wires it has by looking at the plugs.
 :)

Indeed they are 4 wire patch cables, that explains it.
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Tim
talktalkbusiness.net & freenetname
Asus RT-AC68U and ZyXEL VMG1312-B10A Bridge on 80 Meg TTB Fibre

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1502566996147131655

Weaver

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #9 on: December 24, 2020, 10:41:04 PM »

I have always put unknown random ethernet cables straight in the bin, for precisely this reason. I have only ever bought Cat6 cables and then more recently Cat6A cables. These are a pain to work with as they are stiff, but the reassurance wins out.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #10 on: December 25, 2020, 12:41:38 AM »

In theory, 1000base-t was designed to work, even at a full 1Gbps, with cabling to basic Cat 5.

In practice, I have personally found that 1000base-t works perfectly, at a full 1Gbps, with basic Cat 5, with an error rate of zero over many many days.

If installing new cabling then obviously use 5E or better.   But if you already have Cat 5, and you only need 1Gbps, it is highly unlikely that you will see any difference from using 5E,6, whatever.
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Weaver

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #11 on: December 25, 2020, 12:49:28 AM »

Indeed. I have however always looked forward to the day when I upgrade the LAN to 10G class, with a suitable switch, but that is waiting on much better WLAN technology. I noticed that some Cisco WAPs already want >1G copper ethernet i/fs, as 1G isn’t remotely adequate for their aggregate i/o needs.
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banger

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #12 on: December 25, 2020, 01:15:24 AM »

Errors

0 / 0

On 30m Cat5(a) @ 1Gbps since this morning so I am happy.
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Tim
talktalkbusiness.net & freenetname
Asus RT-AC68U and ZyXEL VMG1312-B10A Bridge on 80 Meg TTB Fibre

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1502566996147131655

Bowdon

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #13 on: December 30, 2020, 01:29:22 PM »

I noticed Mark had an article about FTTP speeds and some of the reasons a person might not get the full speed. One of the sections mentioned ethernet lan cabling. He posted them all but I'll a couple.

I noticed he said CAT5 could only get 100Mbps. So now I'm wondering is CAT5 and CAT5a different quality?

I have my network joined up with CAT5E which according to the table can get 1Gbps.

Looking at the chart it seems I should have gone for CAT6 or CAT6A.
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Ronski

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Re: Ethernet Cabling Question
« Reply #14 on: December 30, 2020, 01:45:43 PM »

Bowdon, I really wouldn't worry about it, I have 10Gbps running over 12 meters of CAT5e, as an experiment I joined the two cables to my office together at the patch panel, so a total of 25 meters of Cat5e plus the patch cables and it still run fine at 10Gbps. Cat 5e is well up to 1Gbps speeds, and even 10Gbps up to around 30 meters apparently.
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