Best ethernet cable

mahiruha

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Hello guys,
I am facing a problem regarding ethernet cable. The problem is I need to connect my xbox 360 console to my router to get internet connection. The stock cable that came along with the console works pretty well but it is not long enough so that I can take it through the channels i mafe in the walls.. I have tried other cables but after suffering some bends in the course they don't work. could you guys please suggest best quality ethernet cable to solve my problem.
thanks in advance,
Mahiruha.
 
Mahiruha,

What is the length you need and how much bandwidth needs to be supported? Any branded CAT6 cable should do. We use the brand "AMP" at office, but they are not cheap. You can get also D-Link which should be cheaper. CAT6 Cables should support Gigabit up to about 100m, as far as I know. CAT5 does not support gigabit, but extended CAT5 does. But the current standard is the CAT6. If anybody sells you CAT5 or extended CAT5, he is selling you an old one.

Buy terminated cables. Crimping a UTP cable (like CAT5, CAT6 etc) is easy if you know what to do and if you have the tool (crimper). BTW, crimping is different for CAT5 and CAT6. So best to buy terminated cables unless you need to get a very non-standard length.

Regards
 
Ethernet cables are made by a large number of manufacturers. Get in touch with the systems guys in your office, find out what and who they buy from, and see if you can get the length you require at the discounted prices available to your office. AMP, D-Link, Nortel, Cisco all make excellent cables.

cheers
 
Thanks Venkat and Asit,
the cable I bought is Frontech networking cable enhanced cat 5e. When I connected it straight it worked fine but when I put it through channels which has some 90 degree bends it didn't work. I am not really understanding what the problem is. I will nedd 25 ft length. what will be the best possible solution?In my office although long wires are used but there is no serious bends.
Thanks,
Mahiruha.
 
Ethernet cables should not be bent at a radius tighter than 10 times the diameter of the cable. Cat 5E would be 22 or 24AWG (0.51mm per individual wire in the twisted bundle).

HTH
 
Hello Gobble,
you mean to say for 90 degree bend no cable will serve my purpose. :sad: The wireless route is bit expensive. Wirreless adapter for xbox 360 costs around Rs4000. don't see much value spending that amount of money.
Thanks.
 
Hello Gobble,
you mean to say for 90 degree bend no cable will serve my purpose. :sad: The wireless route is bit expensive. Wirreless adapter for xbox 360 costs around Rs4000. don't see much value spending that amount of money.
Thanks.

Just put a circular channel at the turn and loop it halfway round the circumference then check.

Cheers
 
When I connected it straight it worked fine but when I put it through channels which has some 90 degree bends it didn't work. I am not really understanding what the problem is. I will nedd 25 ft length. what will be the best possible solution?In my office although long wires are used but there is no serious bends.

I think the quality of the cable is bad. I don't see how bending of the cable should affect it's transmission capabilities. After all it is just copper inside, and I remember seeing large quantum of bent cables wherever I have worked. In many places, in the server room, the cables come from under the floor conduits, and are bent 90 degrees or more to reach the switches and the servers. Even in the server rack, the cables are bent to give a clean look.

Cheers
 
Hi Mahiruha,
I tend to agree with Venkat that you should be able to bend copper cables appreciably without downgrading performance. Just have to make sure there are no kinks, but bends are allowed.

For fiber cables, there are severe restrictions in bending. Even there you can bend, provided the bend is smooth. Fiber cables are difficult to bend also because of the stiff housing. But in a server rack you will see fiber cables are used to make connection between the server and a SAN (for example) and they have to be bent to some extent within a rack and that's why fiber cables (normally looking yellow) without the stiff protective housing are used.

Have you made a kink in your Ethernet cable? In that case there may be a problem. I'd also suspect the cable you are using. Of course, many other things can happen. The termination may be faulty, there may be some kind of cable fault in the middle. Usually network people carry around a meter with which you can test if there is a connection from one end to the other.

25 feet is a bit of an odd length. Usual lengths are 1m, 1.5m, 2m etc.

I can give you some contacts tomorrow who may or may not be able to help. These are the people from whom our Institute regularly buys network supplies. The reason they may not be able to help you is that they usually deal in box-full of cables (1 box usually has more than 300 m of UTP cable).

Regards
 
Hi Mahiruha,
You will get loose Cat5 Cable in Chandni Market. If you enter from Mission Row towards Chandni market you will find Naresh Radio on the right foot just after Sabir Hotel. They stock all types of cables.
Regards
vasu
 
thanks guys for all your inputs. So the final conclusion is I should look for CAT 6 AMP 24 awg cables. Any idea how much do they cost?
Thanks.
 
Mahiruha,

CAT6 cables are sensitive to bending and good companies will layout the wires to smoothen and minimise bends and kinks as much as possible. So, even though they are not as susceptible to failure to bends as fibre optic, too much bending can lead to problems. Try to get a networking technician who has a cable testing meter. This device sends modulated electrical signals through the laid-out wire and measures the signal strength and bitrate at the two ends. It is a very useful and quick debugging tool but may be too expensive to buy just for this one-time use. This test will tell you just how much bending can be tolerated by your particular cable.

I've also had problems with CAT6 where the router/switch is not designed for higher than CAT5. Although CAT6 is meant to be backward compatible, the electrical signal strength required for high data rate is different between the standards. So make sure that both the router and Xbox support the CAT6 electrical standard without problems. Sticking to CAT5 is not going to be an issue if that worked for you till now.

-Ajinkya.
 
I am using Cat 6 cable at home, i went for Finolex as the quality was good, would recommend to check the same out too, i have not faced any issues with signal, and i have got cabling done in the entire house, where i have given lan points in 5 rooms.

Most of the sellers will have Cat 5 in stock as its cheaper than Cat 6.

The one i am using is xtreme Cat6.

Please find attached picture, about Cat 6 cables manufactured by Finolex
 

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Hello dushie and Ajinkya,
thanks for your inputs. I have decided that i have to get this cabling done otherwise it is making my room a bit cluttered. I have uploading a picture regarding the bends the cable needs to suffer.
dushie are the cables suggested by you up for it??:) Basically I want to take the cables through the channels made around the door which is next to my desk. The router is beside the monitor hidining behind the books.
Thanks.
 
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Try nailing a sewing machine bobbin at the turn and loop the cable around it rather than make a right-angle kink on the cable.

You know how sometimes the right turn can be a wrong turn and a left turn can be the right turn ... same philosophy applies - the right angle may be a wrong angle ... :)

Cheers
 
Hello Gobble,
that's a innovative solution no doubt. But I am just trying to imagine how it would look. I guess the best way to go is wireless.:)
Thnaks.
 
Well u can go wireless its a good option and will not clutter. Also it will have a wider range and you will have easy mobility.
 
Hi Mahiruha, Gobble,

Turning an UTP cable at right angles is also no problem. At office, in my room in addition to wireless, I have four wired Ethernet connections at table heights at different places of the room. Ethernet cables from the nearby switch entered my room and they are running horizontally slightly above ground level around the room, and then at four locations they go vertically up till the Ethernet connection boxes. From the boxes with 1.5m Ethernet patch cables I connect. These cables are all CAT6 Amp cable runs (including the patch cables). The cable runs are encased in some flat plastic panels running around the room and turn at right angles within the plastic panels with a turning radius slightly more than 1 inch.

Just make sure there is no kink. Kinks may give you problems even with power cables.

Regards.
 
I think in this case, wireless may be the best solution as well. No mess, no tubing on walls and if you invest in the N standard, it will likely serve most of your media needs for some time to come. Nethearand DLink are two I've used with good results. Get the N router/access point in both rooms.
 
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