Over 100m length. . Solution??

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SoundBlaster

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 11, 2004
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If the length of cat.5 wire is over 100m (~130m-150m), the signals will be lost using normal 10-100Mbit switch, so What is the solution? Is Gigabit switch will resolve the length problem? :confused:
 
At work we had to decrease the speed from 100mb to 10mb and things started working fine at that length. Don't really care to think why it works b/c 10/100/1000 speed cables are all cat5/cat6 which top out a little over 100m. All I know is that it works.
 
Some gigabit switches claim 150 meters as the max. distance, but probably the best thing to use is a repeater halfway down the line. Though I've many many runs in the >135 meter range without any repeaters over 100 mbit and they worked fine, but they always had enterprise grade switches and cabling.
 
I've ran a couple over 100m. But, I try to avoid it. Attentuation increases reapidly over 100m. I had one run once that was ~130m and it was dropping packets left and right. Either put another switch or a repeater in the middle if you can.
 
SoundBlaster said:
If the length of cat.5 wire is over 100m (~130m-150m), the signals will be lost using normal 10-100Mbit switch, so What is the solution? Is Gigabit switch will resolve the length problem? :confused:
Click to expand...

Single-mode fiber. 100Mbps single mode isnt that expensive, considering its been around for almost as long as Fast ethernet.

But as far as a cat5 solution, ive always wondered if you could place a router, or possibly a repeater to get much farther distances.
 
I would love to know the full application of this; It would change my answer.

As it stands, I would lean towards coax, but depending on the app, fiber might be the better solution.
 
Long Reach Eithernet in an option but you would be held under 20 Mbp/s also. I think there is also small PoE hubs that could be used as a repeater halfway for 100 Mbp/s connection.
 
I just checked on Flebay:

3.5km spool of SMF-28 single mode - $50.00 Buy-It-Now
Working pair of 100BaseTx to 100BaseFX Adapters - $1.00 (2 days left, 0 bids)

100BaseFX max distance - 400 Meters.
100BaseSX max distance - 15,000 Meters.

Im not sure if the copper-fiber Tranceivers are singlemode or multimode, but either way... quite longer distance than copper ethernet.

Though, the correct answer all depends on where/how/what this is used for.
 
I need an easy way to solve such a length problem, does any body tryb Gigabit switch for long distance with cat.5 or cat.6 ? :confused:
 
Well currently using normal switch I got many time-out with very slow speed (1~5Mbit) due to the length of wire (130 meter) if Gigabit switch is going to increase the speed upto 50Mbit I'll buy it, but I have no idea right now? :confused:
 
infortunatly the path of the wire didn't pass thru any power source there is no mark to supply electricity, it is passed within flat land, that's why I asking about Gigabit switch . . :confused:
 
do a POE install at the half way point if you have to, and a switch or hub....
 
SoundBlaster said:
infortunatly the path of the wire didn't pass thru any power source there is no mark to supply electricity, it is passed within flat land, that's why I asking about Gigabit switch . . :confused:
Click to expand...
Why are you focused on the GbE switch? Just because it can signal faster doesn't mean that it can signal further. In fact, I was under the impression that higher-frequency signals on copper are more susseptible to noise than their lower frequency counterparts.
 
If it were me, I'd use fiber and be done with it.

Anything else is just adding more equipment and complexity that isn't necessary.
 
I'd stick within specs/standards if this is a business network.

Yeah you'll see some people say "Ahh..you can squeeze a few more feet out if it...I've done it".

And you can go try it..and for a few days it may appear to work just fine, internet, file shares, printing, etc...but...every now and then you get a weird error, something odd happens, an occasional hiccup..like some workstation getting autoenrollment errors, slight issues related to active directory, policies, something RPC based.

Not worth the potential issues IMO.
 
Fiber would definately be preferred, but for a lot of places that can't afford to install fiber and already have copper in place, the TUT modems linked in my previous post work quite well.

They are a little expensive, though usually much less than the cost of a properly done fiber installation. Dependson your distance whether it ends up being worth it. For only 150m, fiber may actually be cheaper.
 
Go with fiber. It will cover the distance no problem. Do it once, do it right, and forget about it.It will cost a little bit more but it's worth it to avoid problems in the future.
 
I seem to remember something from uni about ethernet, cable length and collision domains.

Long story short, the cable is probably too long for ethernet to work, gigabit length is even shorter because it signals faster. You need to introduce additional collision domains which means routers (I don't think switches introduce collision domains, but I may be wrong).

If I'm talking out of my ass then ignore me, its been years since I did ethernet theory.

EDIT:

Yes go optic.
 
SoundBlaster said:
PoE midpoint solution? can you tell exactly about it because I didn't get its idea yet? :confused: I mean it power the signal better than switch for long distance ?
Click to expand...

Think of it as a 2 port switch that uses POE for power.

You said "Unfortunatly the path of the wire didn't pass thru any power source there is no mark to supply electricity" So they are suggesting using the cat 5 cable itself to transport both Data and power to a repeater/midpoint. Once again basicaly a 2 port switch.


I would still suggest fiber like everyone else..
 
moetop said:
Think of it as a 2 port switch that uses POE for power.

You said "Unfortunatly the path of the wire didn't pass thru any power source there is no mark to supply electricity" So they are suggesting using the cat 5 cable itself to transport both Data and power to a repeater/midpoint. Once again basicaly a 2 port switch.


I would still suggest fiber like everyone else..
Click to expand...

Do I need external power adapter or just the Cat.5 will power it . . :confused:
 
SoundBlaster said:
Do I need external power adapter or just the Cat.5 will power it . . :confused:
Click to expand...

you would need something to provide power to the cat5. either a switch that supports PoE, or a PoE injector.
 
someone said this already, but repeater/switch

switches are just multi port repeaters really.
 
todlerix said:
someone said this already, but repeater/switch

switches are just multi port repeaters really.
Click to expand...

hub's are multi port repeaters, hence they both operate at layer 1. switches make forwarding decisions based on layer 2 information.
 
Multimode fiber gets my vote in this case. I wouldn't want to be as primitive and rely on coax to solve attenuation problems. Yes, it can run longer but I wouldn't want to sacrifice what UTP can give me over coax, I would just go from cat5 to fiber.
Hell some of the companies I have setup office LANs for run fiber through access panes across parking lots from building to building and not a single bit of interference.
 
Taffy Apple said:
I seem to remember something from uni about ethernet, cable length and collision domains.
Click to expand...
collision domains have to do with cable length only, and if you add a switch in the picture, it goes away
just go
half distance-switch-otherhalf
 
Man, I was just wondering the other day, what you finally decided on, guess nothing yet, eh?? :D
 
If this is for any kind of business, fiber is the best solution. Period. As has already been noted you can grab a couple of copper to fiber converters on ebay cheap. Add a 150M cable and you've got some slack to spare. Why are you so hesitant to go that route?

Adding a switch at the halfway point will probably solve the issue but it's still not going to be guaranteed. Why not go with the true solution?
 
Well, so many guys proposed various solutions, which is all good but I'm curious to know what is the budget and the purpose before we can make proper suggestions.

Not knowing this and assuming it's a business (no home would have a single wire over 100m or 300 feets), i'd add my vote for fiber linking 2 points.
 
Xilikon said:
Well, so many guys proposed various solutions, which is all good but I'm curious to know what is the budget and the purpose before we can make proper suggestions.

Not knowing this and assuming it's a business (no home would have a single wire over 100m or 300 feets), i'd add my vote for fiber linking 2 points.
Click to expand...


I've heard of people who lives on farmlands who wishes to connect to their barn or friends house.

I would say that this isn't really a budget issue, as shown by others, fiber is dirt cheap... litterally. A hub these days are being thrown out, power injectors are also very cheap.

All he has to do with fiber is purchase a say 150m fiber cable already pre terminated from ebay, grab two old switches with 100fx fiber modules (3Com SSII 3000's comes into mind) for $10 or less each and connect the to end points.

Here is an example:

Two 8 port 10/100 switches with a 100fx port, $5 each
http://cgi.ebay.com/AT-FS709FC-8-Po...ryZ51268QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If you don't want to buy switches, grab a couple of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lancast-Twister...ryZ11175QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



Grab this auction, probably will end up at low price $69 bucks...
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-100-Meter-Spo...ryZ64046QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or if you are in doubt of the price, then buy this and run singlemode:
http://cgi.ebay.com/QTY-5-CDT-Fiber...ryZ64046QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


300m's of love for under $100 bucks.
 
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