Losing 160mbps over 20m of cable

PCSharkey

I am hoping you guys might have some ideas for a solution to my problem

I have my PC upstairs and I have been running internet to it from the router in the hall, I ran a cat5e Ethernet from the router to a faceplate in the wall which connects to a longer external cat5e which runs up the side of the house into the attic and across to the bedroom where it comes down the wall to another faceplate where I plug another cat 5e ethernet from the face plate to the Ethernet port on my motherboard. A couple months ago I was able to achieve 105mbps on e-fiber but it typically hovered around 90 which was close enough to what I was paying for. I recently had Virgin media 240mbps installed, the technician who installed it connected his laptop to the modem via ethernet down in the hall and got 230mbps but only got 88mbps from the connection in the bedroom. My computer gets the roughly the same speed capping out at 92mbps and hasn't breached 100mbps since getting the new broadband, My motherboard has a 1gbps lan controller it's a high end asus maximus motherboard purchased less than a year ago and cost nearly 150 quid. I have no Idea how to solve it, I changed face plates, checked for kinks measured the cable roughy 20m certainly no longer than 40m so that shouldn't be a problem, I changed the leads running from the face plate to the computer and the router. I manually made my pc run at 1gbps in the network adapter properties but this made me disconnect from the network so I left it on auto negotiation, the only peculiar thing is that I did the cable length test and it came back with 255m length cable which is not right. I don't know what to do, can any one offer a solution?

sorry for the essay, if you can help me out that would be amazing.

gctest50

Bring the PC down into the hall and plug it into the modem.

Do a few speedtests

If that solves it, its the wiring - if it doesn't solve it, it's something to do with your PC / modem mismatch

roast

A few suggestions off the top of my head...

Is the connection coming up as Gigabit or 100m in the network adaptor status?
Can you try move the rig to the router and just connect with a single patch cable? T'would rule out the wiring.

If it's working fine directly to the router;
Is the wiring punched-down correctly? (shortest possible amount of untwisted wiring into the back of the faceplate)
netstat -e from the command line will display if there's any CRC errors, which would be indicative of dodgy wiring.

PCSharkey

roast wrote: »

A few suggestions off the top of my head...

Is the connection coming up as Gigabit or 100m in the network adaptor status?
Can you try move the rig to the router and just connect with a single patch cable? T'would rule out the wiring.

If it's working fine directly to the router;
Is the wiring punched-down correctly? (shortest possible amount of untwisted wiring into the back of the faceplate)
netstat -e from the command line will display if there's any CRC errors, which would be indicative of dodgy wiring.

In my network adapter it's set to 100m full duplex the other option says 1gb full duplex I've seen other computers where it has 1000m could that be a problem?

roast

Try set it to 1Gb.

100m is just that; 100 megabit. Is it set to Auto-Negotate, or 100mb specifically?

Cuddlesworth

roast wrote: »

Try set it to 1Gb.

100m is just that; 100 megabit. Is it set to Auto-Negotate, or 100mb specifically?

Don't set it to 1Gb. If it's not negotiating at 1gig then there is a cable issue. Could be a pin out, could be damage in the cable in the wall. Could be a cheap faceplate.

PCSharkey

I brought down my PC to the hall and I am getting 236mbps so somewhere along the cable the link is being slowed below 100mbps, in the hall I had to manually change link speed, auto negotitation never ramped it up but when I change it to 1gbps in the bedroom it disconnects entirely. I'll check the pairs in the face plates maybe I left some pairs un-twisted. Thanks for the help lads
v

gctest50

probably at one end or the other :

- a blue is swapped with a blue & white

or

- a brown is swapped with a brown and white

beanie10

PCSharkey wrote: »

I am hoping you guys might have some ideas for a solution to my problem

I have my PC upstairs and I have been running internet to it from the router in the hall, I ran a cat5e Ethernet from the router to a faceplate in the wall which connects to a longer external cat5e which runs up the side of the house into the attic and across to the bedroom where it comes down the wall to another faceplate where I plug another cat 5e ethernet from the face plate to the Ethernet port on my motherboard. A couple months ago I was able to achieve 105mbps on e-fiber but it typically hovered around 90 which was close enough to what I was paying for. I recently had Virgin media 240mbps installed, the technician who installed it connected his laptop to the modem via ethernet down in the hall and got 230mbps but only got 88mbps from the connection in the bedroom. My computer gets the roughly the same speed capping out at 92mbps and hasn't breached 100mbps since getting the new broadband, My motherboard has a 1gbps lan controller it's a high end asus maximus motherboard purchased less than a year ago and cost nearly 150 quid. I have no Idea how to solve it, I changed face plates, checked for kinks measured the cable roughy 20m certainly no longer than 40m so that shouldn't be a problem, I changed the leads running from the face plate to the computer and the router. I manually made my pc run at 1gbps in the network adapter properties but this made me disconnect from the network so I left it on auto negotiation, the only peculiar thing is that I did the cable length test and it came back with 255m length cable which is not right. I don't know what to do, can any one offer a solution?

sorry for the essay, if you can help me out that would be amazing.

From my experience you have too many joints on the cat5 cable. You could try just terminate the cable directly onto a rj45 plug at each end and plug directly into the router and pc. You could also be expecting too much from cat5e, maybe upgrade to cat6. The route the cable takes should be examined too as it could easily be linked.
If you are prepared to replace the cable use duct grade cat6 and plug directly into router and pc.

godskitchen

beanie10 wrote: »

From my experience you have too many joints on the cat5 cable. You could try just terminate the cable directly onto a rj45 plug at each end and plug directly into the router and pc. You could also be expecting too much from cat5e, maybe upgrade to cat6. The route the cable takes should be examined too as it could easily be linked.
If you are prepared to replace the cable use duct grade cat6 and plug directly into router and pc.

No need for cat 6 at all. Really bad advice.

stimpson

You say you checked for kinks, but minimum bend radius is about an inch on cat 5e which is a lot bigger than just a kink.

You can buy an Ethernet tester on adverts for about €20 - or you could go what I did and bought the admin in work a pint and borrowed his

beanie10

godskitchen wrote: »

beanie10 wrote: »

From my experience you have too many joints on the cat5 cable. You could try just terminate the cable directly onto a rj45 plug at each end and plug directly into the router and pc. You could also be expecting too much from cat5e, maybe upgrade to cat6. The route the cable takes should be examined too as it could easily be linked.
If you are prepared to replace the cable use duct grade cat6 and plug directly into router and pc.

No need for cat 6 at all. Really bad advice.

How is this bad advice? If you read my post I said plug cable directly into router and pc cutting out all sockets on cable route and possible bad connections.
If problem still exists then cable is damaged which is quite likely considering the route it takes. If cable needs to be replaced why not upgrade to duct grade cat6 which is suited for external use and can carry faster speeds.
I note you have no advice to offer!

stimpson

beanie10 wrote: »

How is this bad advice? If you read my post I said plug cable directly into router and pc cutting out all sockets on cable route and possible bad connections.
If problem still exists then cable is damaged which is quite likely considering the route it takes. If cable needs to be replaced why not upgrade to duct grade cat6 which is suited for external use and can carry faster speeds.
I note you have no advice to offer!

In fairness, for connecting a single pc directly to a router at home (which is all the OP is doing) then cat6 is overkill.

Even for a home network with a desktop and a home server you're looking at the guts of a grand to get a 10Gb link (2x cards, switch, cabling). I bought enough 5e cabling and faceplates to wire 8 ports around the house for £50 on Amazon about three years ago. Routed in pairs and it's good for 2Gb with link aggregation for just the cost of a couple of cheap NICs.

godskitchen

beanie10 wrote: »

How is this bad advice? If you read my post I said plug cable directly into router and pc cutting out all sockets on cable route and possible bad connections.
If problem still exists then cable is damaged which is quite likely considering the route it takes. If cable needs to be replaced why not upgrade to duct grade cat6 which is suited for external use and can carry faster speeds.
I note you have no advice to offer!

It's bad advice because using cat 6 will not solve the problem if the problem is with the wall plates. It also won't solve the problem if the cat cable is ran over some doggy electrical installation. But most of all ot also won't solve the problem because the problem is not with the cable being cat5.

It's like me telling you to change your car when you run out of petrol.

The problem here is nothing to do with the standard that the network cable adheares with. It's something else, but by all means if the OP wants to follow your advise he is more than welcome to. It will solve the problem if the cable is terminated incorrectly.

The reason I have not offered any advice is I would just be echoing the good advice that has been given by others already.

I'm not one for throwing out solutions for the sake of it, like using cat 6 when there is no need.

Also, saying cat 6 is suitable for external use is another bit of bad advice. You don't know what you are talking about.

beanie10

stimpson wrote: »

beanie10 wrote: »

How is this bad advice? If you read my post I said plug cable directly into router and pc cutting out all sockets on cable route and possible bad connections.
If problem still exists then cable is damaged which is quite likely considering the route it takes. If cable needs to be replaced why not upgrade to duct grade cat6 which is suited for external use and can carry faster speeds.
I note you have no advice to offer!

In fairness, for connecting a single pc directly to a router at home (which is all the OP is doing) then cat6 is overkill.

Even for a home network with a desktop and a home server you're looking at the guts of a grand to get a 10Gb link (2x cards, switch, cabling). I bought enough 5e cabling and faceplates to wire 8 ports around the house for 50 on Amazon about three years ago. Routed in pairs and it's good for 2Gb with link aggregation for just the cost of a couple of cheap NICs.

Again read my post. If all else fails and cable is damaged then new cable needs to be installed. Price difference from cat5e to duct grade cat 6 is minimal, I buy the stuff every week. Worth it for piece of mind considering part of the cable run is external.

beanie10

godskitchen wrote: »

beanie10 wrote: »

How is this bad advice? If you read my post I said plug cable directly into router and pc cutting out all sockets on cable route and possible bad connections.
If problem still exists then cable is damaged which is quite likely considering the route it takes. If cable needs to be replaced why not upgrade to duct grade cat6 which is suited for external use and can carry faster speeds.
I note you have no advice to offer!

It's bad advice because using cat 6 will not solve the problem if the problem is with the wall plates. It also won't solve the problem if the cat cable is ran over some doggy electrical installation. But most of all ot also won't solve the problem because the problem is not with the cable being cat5.

It's like me telling you to change your car when you run out of petrol.

The problem here is nothing to do with the standard that the network cable adheares with. It's something else, but by all means if the OP wants to follow your advise he is more than welcome to. It will solve the problem if the cable is terminated incorrectly.

The reason I have not offered any advice is I would just be echoing the good advice that has been given by others already.

I'm not one for throwing out solutions for the sake of it, like using cat 6 when there is no need.

Also, saying cat 6 is suitable for external use is another bit of bad advice. You don't know what you are talking about.

You obviously don't have a clue. Read all posts. OP moved pc to the router and achieved proper speeds. There the problem lies to in the cat5e run of cable. It's only 20 metre. My advice was to run existing cabe directly from router to PC there cutting out 2 socket terminations. If this fails then the cat5e is damaged somewhere. The damaged may not be visually obvious. Therefore change the cable to duct grade cat6. This can be bought at any electrical wholesale by the meter. To say that duct grade cat6 is not suitable for outside goes to show what you actually know.
In fairness to you running the data cable parallel to mains cable would not help matters but the speed the OP is loosing it must be wrapped around the local ESB sub station.

ED E

The first solution is to re-terminate it. Bad pinout, too much untwist, non-connected pin. Any of them will cause fallback to 100Mb.

After thats been done you can bicker about the merits of cable grades.

beanie10

ED E wrote: »

The first solution is to re-terminate it. Bad pinout, too much untwist, non-connected pin. Any of them will cause fallback to 100Mb.

After thats been done you can bicker about the merits of cable grades.

Well worth a try.
OP I don't know if this was tried already but on the back of the data points there is two ways to terminate, A or B. You should terminate according to the B schematic.

stimpson

beanie10 wrote: »

Again read my post. If all else fails and cable is damaged then new cable needs to be installed. Price difference from cat5e to duct grade cat 6 is minimal, I buy the stuff every week. Worth it for piece of mind considering part of the cable run is external.

Your post said:

You could also be expecting too much from cat5e, maybe upgrade to cat6.

If you find you have issues pushing gigabit over 20m of cat5e then cat6 isn't going to fix it.

PCSharkey

I have a feeling that the cat 5e cable running up the side of my house is dodgy. I replaced the faceplate with completely new cat 5e faceplate, double checked the pairs and twists on the wires nothing changed. I got a couple hundred meters of cat 6 there I'm going to try putting rj45 connectors on either end so I don't have to go through face plates so it's just one single lead see if that works, appreciate all the help guys.
I'll let you know how I get on.

beanie10

stimpson wrote: »

beanie10 wrote: »

Again read my post. If all else fails and cable is damaged then new cable needs to be installed. Price difference from cat5e to duct grade cat 6 is minimal, I buy the stuff every week. Worth it for piece of mind considering part of the cable run is external.

Your post said:

You could also be expecting too much from cat5e, maybe upgrade to cat6.

If you find you have issues pushing gigabit over 20m of cat5e then cat6 isn't going to fix it.

Good god what is so hard to grasp here. If the cable is damaged why would you put the same internal cable back in. Spend the extra few euros upgrade to duct grade cable which is perfect for external use and when you are at it use cat6 with its larger cores. It is less prone to damage and you have future proofed yourself for another few years.
There is no problem pushing gigabit over cat5e but the issue here is it is not going through the installed cat5e.

gctest50

PCSharkey wrote: »

I have a feeling that the cat 5e cable running up the side of my house is dodgy. I replaced the faceplate with completely new cat 5e faceplate, double checked the pairs and twists on the wires nothing changed. I got a couple hundred meters of cat 6 there I'm going to try putting rj45 connectors on either end so I don't have to go through face plates so it's just one single lead see if that works, appreciate all the help guys.
I'll let you know how I get on.

if the cable is running outside, don't crimp connectors on the ends

punch it down into the faceplates

reason : if the cable gets damaged and water gets in, it can rot the connector out of your nice motherboard

PCSharkey

gctest50 wrote: »

if the cable is running outside, don't crimp connectors on the ends

punch it down into the faceplates

reason : if the cable gets damaged and water gets in, it can rot the connector out of your nice motherboard

Yeah I plan on trying connecting the cat 6 face plates if that doesn't work ill crimp rj45 on the ends and run it internally through the ceiling and in through the spare room. Thanks for the heads up

gctest50

(might be useful to someone in the future)

this sort of bad :



It's better to use faceplates because it's hard to crimp cables spot on every time

X-ray of an ethernet plug in a socket

The plug is on the left of this X-ray

beanie10

PCSharkey wrote: »

I have a feeling that the cat 5e cable running up the side of my house is dodgy. I replaced the faceplate with completely new cat 5e faceplate, double checked the pairs and twists on the wires nothing changed. I got a couple hundred meters of cat 6 there I'm going to try putting rj45 connectors on either end so I don't have to go through face plates so it's just one single lead see if that works, appreciate all the help guys.
I'll let you know how I get on.[/.
Did you get the external rated cable or just the standard box of cat 6?

godskitchen

beanie10 wrote: »

Good god what is so hard to grasp here. If the cable is damaged why would you put the same internal cable back in. Spend the extra few euros upgrade to duct grade cable which is perfect for external use and when you are at it use cat6 with its larger cores. It is less prone to damage and you have future proofed yourself for another few years.
There is no problem pushing gigabit over cat5e but the issue here is it is not going through the installed cat5e.

What on earth are you talking about? Larger cores? Cat6 cable will preform no better or worse than cat5 outdoors, in terms of how long it will last. I wouldn't use either outdoors unless it's rated for external application with uv protection. Now I have in a pinch used standard cat6 on external runs and have lived to regret it. Irish weather being what it is. Still, if its in a duct it doesn't make a massive difference. Unless you want to go gel filled, but that another days discussion.

Just for the record, I have installed/ran or been in charge of running well over 100kms of cat cable over the past 15 years. I have terminated more cables than I care to remeber and punched down more pairs than I want to remember. I have come across most problems and am even now still learning.

beanie10

gctest50 wrote: »

(might be useful to someone in the future)

this sort of bad :



It's better to use faceplates because it's hard to crimp cables spot on every time

X-ray of an ethernet plug in a socket

The plug is on the left of this X-ray

Jaysus that's serious. I'd say a poorly installed cable is more to blame there than crimping directly onto data cable.
If the PC is beside external wall where the external cable enters then coil the cable twice before you crimp rj45 onto it. Water won't travel up that.

beanie10

godskitchen wrote: »

beanie10 wrote: »

Good god what is so hard to grasp here. If the cable is damaged why would you put the same internal cable back in. Spend the extra few euros upgrade to duct grade cable which is perfect for external use and when you are at it use cat6 with its larger cores. It is less prone to damage and you have future proofed yourself for another few years.
There is no problem pushing gigabit over cat5e but the issue here is it is not going through the installed cat5e.

What on earth are you talking about? Larger cores? Cat6 cable will preform no better or worse than cat5 outdoors, in terms of how long it will last. I wouldn't use either outdoors unless it's rated for external application with uv protection. Now I have in a pinch used standard cat6 on external runs and have lived to regret it. Irish weather being what it is. Still, if its in a duct it doesn't make a massive difference. Unless you want to go gel filled, but that another days discussion.

Just for the record, I have installed/ran or been in charge of running well over 100kms of cat cable over the past 15 years. I have terminated more cables than I care to remeber and punched down more pairs than I want to remember. I have come across most problems and am even now still learning.

What do you find so wrong about my advice. The OP has tried every other avenue. He has the speed at the router but not 20 metres away on the end of a cat 5e that runs up the outside of the house. He has checked terminations numerous times.
How am I wrong to suggest changing the cable and when he is at it use a duct grade cable. It's tougher, harder to damage while installing and would you believe it designed for external use.
For a person of your experience by your own recognition I am shocked you cannot understand what I am posting.
I wouldn't let you instal a clothes line. There is always one clown in every thread. Arguing for the sake of arguing and still offer no advice. And hiding behind " the only advice I can offer has already been offered" (or something along those line) is not appreciated. The OP has listened to all advice and tried everything bar replace the cable.

PCSharkey

Just solved it, cable was dodgy I ran a cat6 from the face plate in the hall to the one in the bedroom and I have 230mbps

Thanks for the input much appreciated.

PCSharkey

Standard cat 6

PCSharkey

beanie10 wrote: »

PCSharkey wrote: »

I have a feeling that the cat 5e cable running up the side of my house is dodgy. I replaced the faceplate with completely new cat 5e faceplate, double checked the pairs and twists on the wires nothing changed. I got a couple hundred meters of cat 6 there I'm going to try putting rj45 connectors on either end so I don't have to go through face plates so it's just one single lead see if that works, appreciate all the help guys.
I'll let you know how I get on.[/.
Did you get the external rated cable or just the standard box of cat 6?[/QUOTE

Standard cat 6

stimpson

Quick question - is there a mains cable running beside the cat5e on any of its run?

PCSharkey

stimpson wrote: »

Quick question - is there a mains cable running beside the cat5e on any of its run?

No the mains terminates a foot or two away from the start of the cat 5e

beanie10

PCSharkey wrote: »

Standard cat 6

It should be ok for a while just be careful pulling it in especially when pulling through the wall. It doesn't take a lot to damage it. That cable will
Weather externally and eventually break down.

stimpson

PCSharkey wrote: »

No the mains terminates a foot or two away from the start of the cat 5e

Was the cat5e installed by a builder or a spark?

PCSharkey

stimpson wrote: »

Was the cat5e installed by a builder or a spark?

Technician

stimpson

PCSharkey wrote: »

Technician

Can you get him back to fix it?

godskitchen

beanie10 wrote: »

What do you find so wrong about my advice. The OP has tried every other avenue. He has the speed at the router but not 20 metres away on the end of a cat 5e that runs up the outside of the house. He has checked terminations numerous times.
How am I wrong to suggest changing the cable and when he is at it use a duct grade cable. It's tougher, harder to damage while installing and would you believe it designed for external use.
For a person of your experience by your own recognition I am shocked you cannot understand what I am posting.
I wouldn't let you instal a clothes line. There is always one clown in every thread. Arguing for the sake of arguing and still offer no advice. And hiding behind " the only advice I can offer has already been offered" (or something along those line) is not appreciated. The OP has listened to all advice and tried everything bar replace the cable.

What I find so wrong about your advise is, its just plain wrong at worst and at best misguided.

I hate seeing posts on the internet where the poster comes across as knowing what they are talking about when they clearly don't.

Someone reading this post might look at your initial advice and go away thinking that you can't do Gb speeds over cat5 at 20 meters.

I might have taken you incorrectly, if so I'm not the only one in this thread, but I'm not stupid/thick. If I don't get it, in relation to networking cable, your not explaining it correctly.

You still haven't explained the comment you made about cat6 cores...... Again, not explaining very well.

I'm glad you wouldn't let me install a washing line, I get the impression you would blame me of the washing machine stopped working.

Why would I offer advice when the problem was in hand, and now its solved. I knew it would be one of the issues listed by other posters. I knew it because it's what I do.

Irish Steve

over 30 messages, the usual level of infighting between those that know and those that think they know, and no has bothered to mention that up to 100Mb uses 2 pairs, and over 100Mb requires 4 pairs, so the most likely scenario here is that one of the pairs that are only used for Gigabit speeds is not working correctly, or a patch cable has not been properly crimped and is not making a good connection on all 8 wires, so one end of the connection is downgrading to the highest speed it can operate at.

A network cable tester would have identified this in a few seconds, and they're not exactly expensive.

beanie10

godskitchen wrote: »

beanie10 wrote: »

What do you find so wrong about my advice. The OP has tried every other avenue. He has the speed at the router but not 20 metres away on the end of a cat 5e that runs up the outside of the house. He has checked terminations numerous times.
How am I wrong to suggest changing the cable and when he is at it use a duct grade cable. It's tougher, harder to damage while installing and would you believe it designed for external use.
For a person of your experience by your own recognition I am shocked you cannot understand what I am posting.
I wouldn't let you instal a clothes line. There is always one clown in every thread. Arguing for the sake of arguing and still offer no advice. And hiding behind " the only advice I can offer has already been offered" (or something along those line) is not appreciated. The OP has listened to all advice and tried everything bar replace the cable.

What I find so wrong about your advise is, its just plain wrong at worst and at best misguided.

I hate seeing posts on the internet where the poster comes across as knowing what they are talking about when they clearly don't.

Someone reading this post might look at your initial advice and go away thinking that you can't do Gb speeds over cat5 at 20 meters.

I might have taken you incorrectly, if so I'm not the only one in this thread, but I'm not stupid/thick. If I don't get it, in relation to networking cable, your not explaining it correctly.

You still haven't explained the comment you made about cat6 cores...... Again, not explaining very well.

I'm glad you wouldn't let me install a washing line, I get the impression you would blame me of the washing machine stopped working.

Why would I offer advice when the problem was in hand, and now its solved. I knew it would be one of the issues listed by other posters. I knew it because it's what I do.

Am I missing something here. I apologise sincerely if I am, but where does it state the problem is solved? And that it was one of the other issues mentioned by other posters?
Are you just spoofing here so you can pat yourself on the back.
At least wait til op states problem is fixed.
How can I explain it better for you. Op has exhausted all other options including re-terminating, checking cable, ensuring B schematic on data point is used. Therefore I advise change cable. As cable run is partly external then why not use external cable. And while you are at it there is only pennies difference from cat5e to cat 6 so why not use cat6. You can't hold me responsible for you not understanding that. That's your problem.
You attacked my advice since the start and you have failed to prove its bad advice.
Again we are posting crap that in no way helps the op. I am going to refrain from responding to your childish sniping and we would all appreciate if you could limit your posts to actually helping the op.

Johnboy1951

beanie10 wrote:

Am I missing something here. I apologise sincerely if I am, but where does it state the problem is solved? And that it was one of the other issues mentioned by other posters?

This seems to be the post referred to saying the problem is solved.

PCSharkey wrote: »

Just solved it, cable was dodgy I ran a cat6 from the face plate in the hall to the one in the bedroom and I have 230mbps

Thanks for the input much appreciated.

beanie10

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

beanie10 wrote:

Am I missing something here. I apologise sincerely if I am, but where does it state the problem is solved? And that it was one of the other issues mentioned by other posters?

This seems to be the post referred to saying the problem is solved.

PCSharkey wrote: »

Just solved it, cable was dodgy I ran a cat6 from the face plate in the hall to the one in the bedroom and I have 230mbps

Thanks for the input much appreciated.

Posting off the mobile today genuinely never saw op got sorted.