Router relocation

Mercky,.....about the cables,I don't know....the only thing you can do here is to compare the two alternatives. But it's always better to have long distance between router and streamer.

Don't forget to listen after the right direction on your "cheap" eht-cable.It's always a difference,not big....but a difference.

/Peder???? 

I wouldn't extend the phone cable. I take it your still on ADSL rather than fibre. I found way back when I had ADSL that keeping the distance between the incoming phone cable and router was paramount to having a good bandwidth when I ran off extension it was flakey and slower. I would extend your network cable instead.

I also would go for the longer ethernet cable. 20m is no problem and you can buy cable of whatever colour already terminated on eBay etc for very little money.

best

David

I would go for a longer Ethernet cable. You can buy flat cables to run under carpets etc. if it helps. Alternatively, get another 2960 and a couple of SFPs, then you can run fibre, which is nice and thin compared to Ethernet cable. 

Thanks gents, yes I was thinking about the RFI issue with moving the router to beside the switch and all the various cables etc so good advice re the Ethernet cable, I’ll see if I can source a decent white one and I’ll spend a bit of time making it disappear! 

I’ve run an extension from master socket about 15-20 feet using one pair of a cat 5E UTP with no drop in speed. Did this with ADSL, then again when going ‘fibre’, when I replaced the master socket front so I could run seperate phone and data circuits. Again no drop in speed. You may find it’s worth trying it before you do any permanent cable routing and fixing - at least you’ll know you’ve made the right choice so won’t be forever asking yourself “what if...”.

Use a long Ethernet cable from the router to the Atom, ADSL doesn't like long extension cables as they can vary in quality so much; but Ethernet is balanced the cables are made to a defined spec and much more resilient.

If you're worried about RFI, get a second hand Cisco Catalyst series switch and place that nearer to the Atom.  That will act to filter conducted RFI that may have got into the cable.

Mercky posted:

So my router is on the other side of the room to my Atom and switch, rather then use Wifi I’m currently trailing a 10m non-fancy ethernet cable around the edge of the room to the switch, it’s a bit short and looks unsightly so rather then relocate the actual isp point which would be a bit of a faff I was thinking of buying a pre made 20m telephone extension cable and dressing that in nicely along the skirting and moving the router closer to the switch and Atom allowing me to use shorter Ethernet cables. Alternatively I could buy a longer Ethernet cable and dress that in and leave the router where it is but it is a bit thicker then phone cable and not as easy to dress in neatly. So which is better - the 20m phone extension which would be pre router or a long, say 15 or 20m, bog standard Ethernet cable post router? Or is it six of one? 

I would also try a wireless connection, if you have a router with a good wireless interface. I typically use the wireless only for interenet streaming services: Qobuz and DCH, mainly. But lately I wanted to know whether running UPnP server and UpNP renderer on different devices brings any improvements in my setup (which was not the case) and I was surprised at how good wireless streaming actually works even for 24/192 streaming. If a wireless connection does not work or if you anyway want a wired connection, then I would go for the longer ethernet cable.

Cat 5e or Cat6 cables are certified for appoximaely 100m per run. So running a longer Ethernet cable is probably the simplest solution.

Right, so I went out this morning and bought a 20m phone extension cable and a 15m cat 5e Ethernet and there is no difference between either bar a very small roll off on upload speed with the phone cable which is to be expected. I’ve slow speeds anyway with around 12mbs download and about 1mbs upload. So now the only question is am I better leaving the router on the other side of the the room away from the system and using the long Ethernet - I’m presuming from comments above that it’s the better way to go although either solution works fine? Oh, and I’m happy to use wireless and have been for ages but I got a Cisco 2960 switch FOC so it seemed sensible to use it and it does add a subtle improvement I think and also I may get a NAS or an Innuos down the road so it makes sense to use the switch with a wired connection 

Just seen this... absolutely if you are using xDSL keep your DSL line as short as possible to the master consumer socket... so as to maintain the best DSL sync speeds and lowest errors. 

So best use a long Ethernet cable, one can get flat Ethernet cables that can go under carpet etc for precisely this use.

As far as RFI, Ethernet and phone cables are pretty similar, both use twisted pairs, and of course the current twisted pair Ethernet patch lead construction was derived from telephone extension cabling.

BTW 12 down and 1 up is pretty good and fast for ADSL... so you clearly are not too far from the exchange/MSAN/DSLAM, so your phone cabling won’t be as crucial as if you had a DSL long line and you were at <3mbps down sync speed... but even so best keep as short as possible for best performance and best SNR. Also if you upgrade to VDSL at some point (significantly higher throughputs, some ISPs call it ‘Superfast’ or FTTC) you will definitely want your line between master consumer socket and modem as short as possible 

Simon

Thanks Simon, yeh I’m about 1.5k from the fibre cabinet, my speeds are perfectly usable and I never have issues with Netflix or whatever, having said that I don’t have lots of people hanging off it either so it’s non contended from a domestic perspective! 

Yeah, in the UK, ADSL is usually twisted pair to the exchange and then fibre back hauled, VDSL is twisted pair to the fibre cabinet PCP and then fibre backhauled... the green box typically by the road.... and FTTP PON is a direct fibre connection (often combining phone and data) from a fibre splitter in a nearby duct or pole drop point.