Ethernet CAT7 disaster

I'm really pained that Gajdzin has had such grief with his networking - it makes the whole thing all look very difficult and flaky but the basic "rules" are pretty simple.

If you're running cables as an infrastructure then you should *NEVER* terminate cables in plugs - you should always terminate in punch down sockets and buy pre-terminated (pre-tested) patch leads to go between the fixed infrastructure of the building and the movable devices. Ideally get a networking company in to pull, install, terminate and test your cabling for you - it may seem like an unnecessary expense but you can end up with an unusable bunch of wall-spaghetti if you get it wrong.

There is *NO* need to go chasing numbers and going for CAT7 (or CAT6 or even shielded CAT5e) within a domestic environment. CAT6 and CAT7 require much more careful handling and installation than CAT5e and the additional bandwidth that they provide doesn't give any usable benefits with the kind of kit that *MOST* people will be using. Even shielded CAT5e isn't necessary unless you have a specific need for it and using it can introduce more issues than it solves.

Cheers

Phil 

I don't know why, but this is EXACTLY what the ethernet guys who fixed my problem said when they saw my original installation...

The root cause of that problem was me. 16 years ago I was an IT infrastructure guy. I knew all there was to know about ethernet and other networks. Now I tried to re-apply that knowledge here, but the world and the technology has moved on... The rules that applied to CAT5 cabling do not apply to higher categories, as you have correctly pointed out.

I paid my hi fi dealer $100/hour, for a total of two hours ($200 total), for them to send their two installers to my home to install and test an ethernet connection from my loft space where my servers are, down 3 floors to my livingroom.  It was well worth it!

You are lucky to have such hi-fi dealer... Mine doesn't know what Ethernet is. I called over 20 internet installers - the small ones don't have the right equipment (such as cable qualification meters), the big ones don't want to come to a residential place, it's not worth their while... But I persevered and found 2 guys who normally do much bigger jobs, but are hi-fi fans and were willing to come down and fix my ethernet in between more "serious" jobs

My dealer is fully into the 'whole house' solutions market, and does a LOT of custom installations.  I am happy that they were willing to come to me for such a small job!  

Gajdzin, glad you got it sorted. Cat5e is far more forgiving  And is perfectly happy with 1 Gbps.

I agree with Phil with when he says don't go chasing the numbers, as I and quite a few on here have said Cat5e is more than ample for our audio applications.

although I would say floating shielded Cat5e has in benefits when routed very near audio equipment according to my ears. If you are really interested you can get an EMC meter compare the radiation from different cables..a bit  geeky I know, but very quickly demystifies the issue if you are unsure. Also you may disinclined to put a MacBook Pro on your lap if using such a meter as well 

Simon

Big SIGH of relief... You DIDN'T say: "I told you so"

Hi Simon,

I will completely agree that floating shielded CAT5e *CAN* have advantages - that's exactly what I meant when I said "Even shielded CAT5e isn't necessary unless you have a specific need for it..." however for anyone else reading, please be aware that floating the shield on CAT5 isn't something that is in the installation specs and although I can see why in your installation you found it advantageous and that it worked for you I just don't want to encourage people to do it blindly.

Over the years I've seen a number of installs where shielded CAT5e has been used "because it's shielded so must be better" but the shields haven't been terminated end-to-end and it's either dropped connection speeds down from gigabit to 10/100Mbits or has stopped comms altogether, even though the cables "bell out" OK using a cheap "pin-to-pin and correct pairs" tester (although they would then fail when checked using my Fluke tester).

I've even seen an instance where a correctly installed UTP infrastructure (which checked out perfectly on my validator when I went onsite) was causing issues when used for streaming media (although PCs were working fine).

The owner was using STP patch leads to go from the wall to the kit and simply replacing those with UTP made everything behave correctly.

The STP leads tested out perfectly on the validator too but putting the validator on the end of the STP -> Infrastructure combination would fail validation every time once the validator started pumping its data tests.

I have no problem with anyone "tweaking" the rules of networking to their advantage (and please - anyone reading this do not take it that I'm dismissing what Simon is saying as incorrect - I'm happy with most things that I read that Simon has posted and he's a great help to everyone on here) but all I want to try to avoid is someone following information that they've read blindly, finding that it doesn't work for them and ending up with (what I referred to above as) expensive wall spaghetti.

Phil 

I want to share my experience cabling my home when I did a renovation some 3 years back. At that time, Cat6 was in vogue. Did a bit of reading and so I actually got together Cat6 cables in small rolls and Cat6 certified patch panels for my contractor to do the job.

The job went well - initially. Everything works well and at the correct speed. However after some months, I started to see poor communication links in the form of slow transfer rate on some links. After some troubleshooting on my own, I finally solved the problem by re doing the punch down again on  the RJ45 patch. I suspect because the Cat6 cables are stiffer, you need to take extra care (and force) with the punch down to or they will not seat properly, not to mention they must be matched with Cat6 certified connectors. 

thanks Phil