Have an old Ethernet Cable, time to replace it

[target2019]

Made money from the CAT 3 runs. Made money with the updated CAT 5 runs...

In the old buildings we worked on, we called that the seismic reinforcing program.
Nobody wrecked out the old wire and we kept weaving new copper through there.
That nursing home that I last worked for had 25 pair phone cable to each telephone. When I updated to a digital system I used 1 pair for that.

Same here, as the company I w*rked for makes network cable testers. The need for speed makes for some great businesses!

My entry into network support arose from the fact that the "plumber/electrician" installed CAT 5 and CAT 3 throughout a 3-story commercial property. He also did phone wiring.

He created a good deal of work for me. My first time at their home building the doctors were scratching their heads at how badly things performed, and the wait time for Windows to give up. So, he was able to get most of the wires correct, and the terminals would work. But then there was the little problem of some wire colors not matching at both ends...

It was too much fun setting up continuity tester and climbing the back stairs to see which cable went where, and correcting/documenting. He removed all the markings at the patch panel and at the wall termination.

It did not phase me at all. I had also created a detailed diagram, and began identifying all the hardware, the runs, and so on.

Over 20 years it was up and down for me as he outfitted 5 offices in a larger area. They paid me well to go wherever and fix the problems he created.

 

[Sojourner]

I figure My internet provider gives 1Gbps service, I should make sure I am taking full advantage of that

As a long-time technology geek, I totally understand that. But, OTOH, it's hard to imagine a use case for two retired folks fully utilizing 1Gbps. With that much bandwidth, you could each stream 15(!) 4K UDH movies from Netflix simultaneously and still have plenty of bandwidth left over to stream FLAC-quality music from multiple sources, play video games, be on many simultaneous Zoom video calls, and much more!

It's truly amazing how far ISPs have come over the past 20 years. I can remember in the early 2000s talking excitedly with co-workers about the possibility of our office getting a T1 connection. For those who don't know, that was a 1.5 Mbps circuit! We thought that was blazing fast. Little did we know that a mere 20 years later, we'd have access to nearly 700 times that much bandwidth from the comfort of our homes.

 

[Major Tom]

It's truly amazing how far ISPs have come over the past 20 years. I can remember in the early 2000s talking excitedly with co-workers about the possibility of our office getting a T1 connection. For those who don't know, that was a 1.5 Mbps circuit! We thought that was blazing fast. Little did we know that a mere 20 years later, we'd have access to nearly 700 times that much bandwidth from the comfort of our homes.

It's pretty stunning isn't it? As the technician was installing my 10 gigabit fiber service, I was musing that it offered more speed than I could possibly use. He remarked that they were basically "future-proofing" themselves. This company has gone to the trouble of installing an entire fiber network, right up to each individual building. After that huge amount of investment and work, it's understandable that they wouldn't want to have to do it again for a very long time.

Doesn't seem that long ago that were were listening to the sweet sounds of our dial-up modems. That sound was full of excited anticipation for me!

 

[mpeirce]

As a long-time technology geek, I totally understand that. But, OTOH, it's hard to imagine a use case for two retired folks fully utilizing 1Gbps.

I generally agree, but more does come in handy at times. When things like when OS updates come down the pipe, faster is better. Or our lake house filled with guests who each expect plenty of bandwidth.

It's truly amazing how far ISPs have come over the past 20 years. I can remember in the early 2000s talking excitedly with co-workers about the possibility of our office getting a T1 connection.

I remember having a T1 connection to my house. It was so awesome at the time!

My current strategy is to take the second tier offering. It’s cheaper than the top tier and it gets incremented just as often as the top tier.

We current have 500 Mbps service. They offer 1G for another $20/month. When tested, we get better than 500. We’re happy with it.

 

[RunningBum]

As a long-time technology geek, I totally understand that. But, OTOH, it's hard to imagine a use case for two retired folks fully utilizing 1Gbps. With that much bandwidth, you could each stream 15(!) 4K UDH movies from Netflix simultaneously and still have plenty of bandwidth left over to stream FLAC-quality music from multiple sources, play video games, be on many simultaneous Zoom video calls, and much more!

But the wife corrected detected that she wasn't getting the full bandwidth, only 87 Mbps due to an old cable, so she must be doing something you can't imagine. My son could also tell the difference between the 300 Mbps he got in his previous place vs 100Mbps in his current place. Can't speak for Romer and wife, but my son plays those interactive shooter games and you are at a disadvantage at a lower speed.

 

[ERD50]

But the wife corrected detected that she wasn't getting the full bandwidth, only 87 Mbps due to an old cable, so she must be doing something you can't imagine. ....

My guess it was something unrelated to whether speed was 87Mbps or something higher. It was noted she was mulrti-tasking, I bet it was other stuff going on. Unless, a bad cable was causing a lot of drops and re-sends, and/or very long/intermittent ping times.

But of course, if she thinks OP 'fixed it', take the credit!

... My son could also tell the difference between the 300 Mbps he got in his previous place vs 100Mbps in his current place. Can't speak for Romer and wife, but my son plays those interactive shooter games and you are at a disadvantage at a lower speed.

I'm not a gamer, but I'm pretty sure it is ping times that are the key, and not 100 vs 300 Mbps BW.

Confirmation: https://weakwifisolutions.com/ping-vs-download-speed-whats-more-important-for-gaming/

-ERD50

 

[Romer]

okay all right, I get it that most here are saying who needs 1GB and that the speed she was running at was fine. I am not going to debate if the cable was damaged or not. It has long hit the trash pile. It was 50 foot and length also factors into capability. However, it is very possible it was damaged.

As far as multi-tasking, she was streaming a show wile playing an online game and was also researching something in another browser. She was streaming poker so doesnt require full attention

The point of my thread is that newer cables can handle faster bandwidths and something to try if you have issues. I thought many people here would just assume all ethernet cables are the same. Obviously a higher technical base of folks than I had assumed

 

[JoeWras]

The point of my thread is that newer cables can handle faster bandwidths and something to try if you have issues. I thought many people here would just assume all ethernet cables are the same. Obviously a higher technical base of folks than I had assumed

Yes, your point is well taken. The cable should always be top of debug list.

"Patch cables" are notorious for taking abuse and either failing or not working well. A cable that causes some issues creates a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes methods of correcting and re-transmitting the data that in the end looks like a slow connection to the user.

 

[folivier]

Geez, in our last house I ran coax for internet. Then cat5, then finally wifi. Here it's all wifi. But remember your equipment in your house is only half of the equation. The other half is everywhere else. I have 1Gb speeds here but some websites are much lower speeds and it's noticeable. At our cabin we have 18-20Mbps, which works fine for us to watch tv and surf. But it's noticeable when I'm looking at my security cameras remotely.

 

[target2019]

okay all right, I get it that most here are saying who needs 1GB and that the speed she was running at was fine. I am not going to debate if the cable was damaged or not. It has long hit the trash pile. It was 50 foot and length also factors into capability. However, it is very possible it was damaged.

As far as multi-tasking, she was streaming a show wile playing an online game and was also researching something in another browser. She was streaming poker so doesnt require full attention

The point of my thread is that newer cables can handle faster bandwidths and something to try if you have issues. I thought many people here would just assume all ethernet cables are the same. Obviously a higher technical base of folks than I had assumed

Thread drift is your friend. Eventually everything gets questioned.

That old cable was due for replacement.

 

[vaxcat]

Cat 5 old? Nah. This is old ethernet.

That brings back some old memories! Gotta love those old "vampire" taps!

 

[DougJohnson]

I'm running 1Gb over cat 3 cable I installed in 1996. Short runs, less than 75 feet. Yes, I'm getting the full 1Gb.

Usually, when I see slow downs to the 87Mb range, a patch cable only has four wires connected. Gb ethernet requires all 8 wires to be connected and will fall back to 100Mb with only the middle 4 connected.

I could have pulled cat 5 in '96, but who needs more than 10Mb?

Oh, yeah. I had a chunk of thick, yellow ethernet cable in my desk for years.

-- Doug

 

[rayvt]

When we built in 2008 I had Cat 5e and coax run to all the rooms from a central box. Now, 16 years later, we don't use a single ethernet cable and only one coax (from outside to the router). It's all wifi. What a waste.

When we had our house built in 2006 I had them put in a RJ11 phone jack and a TV coax RJ6 jack in every room, some rooms had two sets. And I ran the latest technology 5-cable component cables (3 video + 2 audio) run from the DVD player to the video projector in the media room and from the cable box behind the TV in the living room to the projector.

Today all the phones are cordless, the TVs are all wifi streaming, and the Bluray player to projector is HDMI. And nothing has 3-jack component video connectors.

It doesn't matter what you put in, it will all be obsolete and surpassed by newer technology in 10 years.

We are far away from neighbor houses, and the only WIFI signal we get in the house is our WIFI. My sons live in housing developments and when we go there we see dozens of WIFI servers from all the neighboring houses.

 

[bl1289]

cable upgradedat time of install

I had XFinity install ethernet in my 1994 house last year. They would not use the 1994 cabling but said it had to be replaced, especially the wall connector.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I just ran Cat8 to all my main hardwired ethernet points.

 

[JoeWras]

When we had our house built in 2006 I had them put in a RJ11 phone jack and a TV coax RJ6 jack in every room, some rooms had two sets. And I ran the latest technology 5-cable component cables (3 video + 2 audio) run from the DVD player to the video projector in the media room and from the cable box behind the TV in the living room to the projector.

Today all the phones are cordless, the TVs are all wifi streaming, and the Bluray player to projector is HDMI. And nothing has 3-jack component video connectors.

I just helped refurbish a small early 70s house. It had all kinds of phone and cable wires and boxes everywhere, inside and outside. We were requested to "just rip it all out and patch the holes, I don't want to see any of that."

So we did. Nice and clean. They will put a router/modem in the corner of one room and be done with it.

 

[sengsational]

I got my cat5e wire out of a dumpster and installed it all through my house. Still faster than WiFi. I'm not sure if my terminations were sloppy or not; I remember tediously laying out the right colors and doing some insulation displacement operation, then trimming. I have gigabit service but not trying to optimize anything, especially since servers are often the bottleneck.

 

[mpeirce]

And how did ethernet get it’s name you may be asking...

He (Bob Metcalfe at Xerox PARC, in 1973) chose the name based on the word “ether” as a way of describing an essential feature of the system: the physical medium carrying bits to stations.

He thought this was much like the old luminiferous ether was once thought to propagate electromagnetic waves through space.

 

[JoeWras]

Don't worry, Token Ring will win this war!

Oh wait, it isn't 1993? 30 years too late. Never mind.

 

[MRG]

Don't worry, Token Ring will win this war!



Oh wait, it isn't 1993? 30 years too late. Never mind. [emoji23]

Token ring and OS/2. What else do you need?

 

[skyking1]

wait, don't you mean Tolkien Ring?
One to rule them all!!

 

[target2019]

Token ring and OS/2. What else do you need?

Betamax and AOL?