Can Cat5 usually get more than 100Mbps?

[decker]

Trying to help a friend with his home network. He has Cat5 cabling throughout his house that's connected to a 100Mbps switch connected to his gigabit router. When using wifi to his router he gets close to his 250Mb max d/l. Using ethernet or connecting to his AP only gets 100Mbps. So I realize his switch is an obvious problem. I need to upgrade him to a gigabit switch. But will this make a difference if he has Cat5? I read Cat5 is theoretically capable of gigabit speeds if the cables are short, but how short? And how reliable is it? He has a mix of 50m and 100m cables. He doesn't need gigabit speeds. If he can get close to his rated ISP speeds he'll be happy. Of course the last thing he wants to do is replace all the cables. He wants to hold off on that if he can.

I know the simple thing to do is just buy a gigabit switch and see what happens but I want to be sure of all the options.

 

[lazyme]

cat5e is able to handle gigabit connection up to 50-100m, in you case you have to try.

 

[decker]

cat5e is able to handle gigabit connection up to 50-100m, in you case you have to try.

I know but I'm talking about cat5 not cat5e.

 

[itpp20]

Gigabit with cat5 cable

Can a standard cat5 cable transmit at a speed of 1000 Mbit/s ? I've asked several people I know in the networking field and received different answers. I know a cat5 "works" on a Gigabit network but

serverfault.com

 

[follower]

Trying to help a friend with his home network. He has Cat5 cabling throughout his house that's connected to a 100Mbps switch connected to his gigabit router. When using wifi to his router he gets close to his 250Mb max d/l. Using ethernet or connecting to his AP only gets 100Mbps. So I realize his switch is an obvious problem. I need to upgrade him to a gigabit switch. But will this make a difference if he has Cat5? I read Cat5 is theoretically capable of gigabit speeds if the cables are short, but how short? And how reliable is it? He has a mix of 50m and 100m cables. He doesn't need gigabit speeds. If he can get close to his rated ISP speeds he'll be happy. Of course the last thing he wants to do is replace all the cables. He wants to hold off on that if he can.

I know the simple thing to do is just buy a gigabit switch and see what happens but I want to be sure of all the options.

Yes. I does get more than 100. It works for 1gb with short length like 30m-50m. More than 50m? It works but unstable.

 

[thiggins]

CAT5 will work for gigabit Ethernet. For long runs, there may be packet loss, which will reduce throughput. For a 250 Mbps ISP connection, I suspect you'll never notice. Spend the $15 for a 5 port gigabit switch and give it a try.

 

[Datalink]

Definitely worth the $15 for a gigabit switch. The one problem that you might run into is whether or not the house cabling is connected to the connectors using all 4 wire pairs. Only two wire pairs are needed to run 100 Mb/s. If you're looking to run anything over 100 Mb/s, then all 4 wire pairs have to be connected end to end. If you take a wallplate off of the wall, or inspect the connectors in the basement, you should be able to easily determine if all 4 wire pairs are connected, or if two pairs have been cut or wrapped back along the cable.

Even if all 4 wire pairs are connected, I wouldn't assume that the two unused pairs are operational as they've never been used up to this point. Its worth buying a cable tester to determine if all 4 wire pairs are connected properly, end to end. These can save you a few hours of troubleshooting:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07DD7PSW5/?tag=smallncom-20

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B004Y75B5Y/?tag=smallncom-20

There are more expensive versions of cable testers available. Just depends on how much you want to spend.

 

[decker]

Definitely worth the $15 for a gigabit switch. The one problem that you might run into is whether or not the house cabling is connected to the connectors using all 4 wire pairs. Only two wire pairs are needed to run 100 Mb/s. If you're looking to run anything over 100 Mb/s, then all 4 wire pairs have to be connected end to end. If you take a wallplate off of the wall, or inspect the connectors in the basement, you should be able to easily determine if all 4 wire pairs are connected, or if two pairs have been cut or wrapped back along the cable.

Even if all 4 wire pairs are connected, I wouldn't assume that the two unused pairs are operational as they've never been used up to this point. Its worth buying a cable tester to determine if all 4 wire pairs are connected properly, end to end. These can save you a few hours of troubleshooting:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07DD7PSW5/?tag=smallncom-20

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B004Y75B5Y/?tag=smallncom-20

There are more expensive versions of cable testers available. Just depends on how much you want to spend.

I got one of those cable testers laying around somewhere. Good advice I would never have thought of that thx.

CAT5 will work for gigabit Ethernet. For long runs, there may be packet loss, which will reduce throughput. For a 250 Mbps ISP connection, I suspect you'll never notice. Spend the $15 for a 5 port gigabit switch and give it a try.

Cool thx

 

[decker]

After going to my friend's home and looking at his network he was incorrect about the cabling. He assumed they were all Cat5 because he only inspected one of them. They're actually a mixture of Cat5, Cat5e, and Cat3! Yes Cat3. Whoever installed the cables must have just used whatever he had laying around. Strangely the Cat3 cables' speeds on the gigabit switch were half as fast as the 100Mb switch. The Cat5 and Cat5e cables were fine though. Unfortunately the AP he's using at the far end of his house has the Cat3s.

I guess nothing can be done about the Cat 3 cables except to change them out. Actually I think he was lucky he was able to get almost the full 100Mb from those cables. Wikipedia says they're rated for 10Mbps heh.

Edit: I didn't think of this until now but if he keeps the Cat 3 cables plugged into the 100Mb switch and connects the 100Mb switch to the gigabit switch will that keep the original faster speeds for the Cat3s while the Cat5 and Cat5e get the gigabit speeds?

 

[thiggins]

Not necessary to use the 100 Mbps switch. The slower link will not slow down the faster ones on the switch.

 

[decker]

Not necessary to use the 100 Mbps switch. The slower link will not slow down the faster ones on the switch.

The Cat3 speeds are slower by half on the gigabit switch for some reason. I connected it back to the 100 Mb switch and speeds doubled so I think it is necessary unless the gigabit switch is the problem.

 

[thiggins]

The Cat3 speeds are slower by half on the gigabit switch for some reason. I connected it back to the 100 Mb switch and speeds doubled so I think it is necessary unless the gigabit switch is the problem.

Could be the CAT3 cable has only 2 pair, so Gigabit switch isn't properly auto-negotiating. Gigabit needs all 4 pair connected.

What throughput are you getting in each case, i.e. with and without 100 Mbps switch?

 

[decker]

Could be the CAT3 cable has only 2 pair, so Gigabit switch isn't properly auto-negotiating. Gigabit needs all 4 pair connected.

What throughput are you getting in each case, i.e. with and without 100 Mbps switch?

He gets like 80-95 Mbps through the AP wifi on 100Mb switch and half that on the gigabit switch.