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Home network bogging down

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rocks911

n00b
Joined
Oct 31, 2011
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I have been developing (cobling together as I get extra money) a home LAN for the last couple of years but as it grows I am left wondering about performance issues.

I have Verizon FIOS to my home, providing both internet (50Mbps Download 25 Mbps Upload) through an Actiontec MI424WR router and television to 5 STB's.

I have run CAT6a STP throughout my home to various rooms from an 8 port Monoprice Gigabit switch. A 50' run of CAT6a from my Actiontec router to the Monoprice 8 port switch then both 50' and 75' runs of CAT6a STP from the switch to various rooms.

In a couple of the rooms I have media players (Boxee Box and WD TV LIve) that work great at accessing and playing content from my Windows7 PC.

Yesterday I purchased two Panasonic LED TV's (DLNA capable) that I also connected into my home network through a 75' run of CAT6a STP. Because the Panasonics cannot access the content on my PC directly I had to downlaod and install Serviio on my PC. Now the content on my PC is available to the Panasonics. Unfortunately one of the TV's has trouble with the content, occasionally dropping the signal, or when scrolling through the content index some of the content is shown to be unavailable, at other times everything is shown, so it appears that there are throughput problems. The other Panasonic TV connected has had no problems, but then its run of CAT6a to the switch is only 50'.

Are these runs of cable (50' of CAT6a from router to switch, then 50' or 75' of CAT6a to television) extreme? The media players (Boxee and WD) dont seem to have the same problems. Could it be Serviio lagging?

What do you suppose the weak link is?
 
Oh man, already over my head.
I buy cable from Monoprice always, I described what I wanted and they suggested CAT6a STP. My only requirement as described to the Monoprice tech was "I want the fastest CAT wiring" and CAT6a STPthis is what was suggested. I didnt want to have to termiante the ends myself so I got precut/preconfigured 50' and 75' lengths:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10232&cs_id=1023216&p_id=5906&seq=1&format=2

These I have arranged from my router to my switch to my media player and/or TV. Does this arrangement allow one to "drain the shield"?

I guess I should have asked more questions.
 
STP stands for Shielded Twisted Pair. For the shield to work as intended (shield against RF interference) it needs to be drained properly- meaning grounded properly on at least one end. If it is not grounded properly, it acts as an antenna rather than a shield, exacerbating interference.
Proper CAT6A STP is probably the most expensive cable and terminations they sell. CAT5E UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) would be more than good enough in a home setting. STP should be avoided unless you have an architected system or are very familiar with STP. Not knowing what STP stands for is a good indicator you might want to re-examine using STP.
Factory termination is only part of what you need- you actually need STP terminators (metal around terminator) and a switch and/or equipment that properly drains the shield. I would be extremely surprised if the monoprice switch even uses an internal power supply, much less drains the shield properly to ground.
 
So I guess I've got an attic and walls full of calbe that can act as an antenna. Having pretty much zero technical knowledge I called Monoprice and asked tech assistance what would they recommend for a modest home LAN. They recommended the Cat6A STP, which as it turns out is the most expensive cat cable they sell, go figure.

So I suppose rip that out and go to 6/6a UTP?
Say it isnt so.
 
Might be cheaper to terminate it and drain the shield properly. I would do a little more testing before ripping it out of walls, unless you only have a small run.
For home use there is no meaningful difference between 5e and 6. Just because it is more expensive does not mean it is better.
I would recommend UL listed CAT5e UTP
 
rocks911 said:
I thought I could trust Monoprice, apparently I was wrong.
Click to expand...


I don't know why they would have recommended STP cables to begin with. These days even in the networking field nobody wants to deal with STP unless they have to when Fiber runs can be a more cost effective solution in buildings or running across a campus. You really only want to use STP if you absolutely have to, for short distances, or are on a budget where every penny counts.

UTP is fine for the home environment except in certain circumstances, and even then I'd find a way to go around anything blocking UTP cabling to MAKE the run work without interference.


If it makes it any easier. You can start replacing the runs one by one as necessary so it doesn't become an all-day drag.
 
Before everyone gets too carried away, I'd confirm the Monoprice switch isn't grounding the STP.
 
Electrofreak said:
Before everyone gets too carried away, I'd confirm the Monoprice switch isn't grounding the STP.
Click to expand...

Simplest way to check is look for a grounded mains plug. seeing a grounded mains plug does not gaurantee the shield is drained properly, but not seeing one gauarantees it is NOT drained properly. I would even go out on a limb and say any device with an external brick/wall wart power suply does not drain the shield properly.

Seeing a chassis ground (green screw in the sheetmetal of the chassis) is a good indicator of proper grounding, but again, not absolute.

We'll leave chassis vs. floating vs. circuit ground for another day.:D

Definitely don't toss anything before doing a little testing.
 
Knowing nothing about cabling or networks I called Monoprice and asked for the fastest Ethernet cable they had. They recommended the STP cable. It probably didnt hurt their decision that it was the most expensive.

I emailed tech support and explained: "When I was planning my LAN I contacted Monoprice and described that I was building a modest LAN and wanted their (the tech support person) recommendation on the fastest Cat cabling they would recommend. I followed the recommendation and ordered what was recommended, Cat6A STP. I have purchased somewhere in the vacinity of $125 in these cables.I was never told that any special circumstances needed to be taken into consideration by the person at Monoprice that suggested the STP. Now I''m left with one large antenna in my walls and attic."

Their reply:Thank you for contacting us here at Monoprice.com, these cables have the grounding built into them, if you look on the side of the tip of any of these cables you should see a small metal patch, this grounds the shielding for these cables."

This is the cable recommended: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10232&cs_id=1023216&p_id=5905&seq=1&format=2

So they are not telling me the truth?
 
You still need to ground that cable to, well, ground, neither your switch nor your router have grounded ports, you need to either get a grounded switch (and probably router too as I think it needs to be grounded on both ends otherwise still antenna) or use unsheilded cable.
 
Hold on a minute. There is no need to stress about this giant antenna theory just yet. Everything is working for you except one TV.

50' and 75' runs are very short for this cable. This is not your issue. You can go 100 meters, or, roughly, 300 feet before running into problems. Hell, I have run UTP cable 500' with zero issues.

Also, your router is not an issue. Your PC is connected to the same switch as the other systems, correct? That means all of your traffic is local to that switch. It doesn't visit the router unless it is going out to the web.

Now, lets do some testing. Is the problem TV pulling video at the same time as the other devices? If you disconnect the other systems so that the problem TV is the only device pulling video, does it still have a problem?

Does that cable run pass through or near electrical wiring? Is it running near a microwave, or other appliance?

Do you have a cable tester?

Have you tried to connect the problem system to a different switch port?
 
rocks911 said:
...these cables have the grounding built into them, if you look on the side of the tip of any of these cables you should see a small metal patch, this grounds the shielding for these cables."

So they are not telling me the truth?
Click to expand...

This is where using STP gets ugly.

No, they are not telling the truth. To be accurate, the shield should not be grounded (AC ground) but drained. An STP cable has a foil or wire braid layer which is used to provide a least-resistance path to RF energy. For a least resistance path to work, there needs to be some method to drain the energy collected by the shield- the most straight-forward way is to drain the shield to earth.
If a drain path is not established, the energy bleeds into the twisted pairs (your data lines) which actually exacerbates the RF issue- hence turning your cable into an antenna.

Your existing switch more than likely does not have the proper drain path for reasons posted previously.

For STP to work properly, a consistent drain path MUST be maintained. Think of it as a toilet with no connection to the sewer- at some point, crap is gonna be somewhere you don't want it. It's the same with RF energy- if you don't drain it, it will spill over onto your data lines. UTP rejects alot of RF energy by phase reversal- energy hitting one wire is out of phase on the other, and cancels out. Un-drained shields negate that by surrounding the pairs with RF energy.

When using STP, you have to have a good drain plan. Draining at both ends is an option, but draining at one end is usually more practical and provides better (IMO) results. Draining at both ends can cause problems where there is no potential difference on the shield, and it does not drain. You can also have a situation where there is ALWAYS a potential difference on the shield, causing current flow, which can create noise and even shock individuals. You also run into issues with wiring code where separate buildings need independant grounds. Draining from one end only makes sure current flows in only one direction and greatly decreases the risk of shock.
If you choose single-end drain, you need to choose which end to drain on (usually the switch; otherwise you induce noise in the switch when nothing is connected on the other end) and you need to check how your equipment is grounded. You want to avoid equipment that ties the chassis ground to AC ground, or even the circuit ground to either. Connecting the drain to AC ground can induce current from AC onto your equipment, again negating the purpose of the shield.
When dealing with STP, you really want an architected environment where all of the above and more has been taken into consideration.

Now, are you starting to understand why STP is such a pain to deal with? If reading the above is painful, imagine having to actually do it.
 
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