CAT 5

newbuild06

Hi folks
Don't know if this is the right thread but i hope it is. I have CAT 5 cable wired to all rooms in my home and coming back to one central point. I had it installed when we were building as i hoped to set it up for a music system. However with the advance in technology in the last 10 years this seems a bit pointless now.
So i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or ideas of what i could use the cabling for??
Thanks in advance

1874

Cat 5 is useless? why/how so? what advances have made it useless in a domestic setting? are you saying that in relation to music systems? speakers?

heroics

Same as above. I'd kill to have Cat5 (presume if 10 years ago its 5e) ran to every room in the house.

Wired always beats wireless unless its for mobile devices. TVs, Set top boxes, Gaming all benefit from wired over wireless. Adding additional wireless access points is another example.

Edit: misread the part about music system.

bk

Your cat5 is not required for music today, but it is still incredibly useful for improving the quality of the wifi in your home.

If you have any video streaming devices (Shield TV, etc.) then ideally they should be hooked up to your cat5 network, rather then using wifi, that helps take the strain off your wifi network.

Basically anything that is fixed and has an ethernet port (desktop PC's, etc.) should use your ethernet network.

If you want to improve your wifi today or in the future, then this will be priceless. It will allow you to put wireless access points in each room of your house, with the data backhauled over the ethernet cables back to your broadband modem. This is how high quality wifi in offices, etc. is done.

newbuild06

1874 wrote: »

Cat 5 is useless? why/how so? what advances have made it useless in a domestic setting? are you saying that in relation to music systems? speakers?

Sorry yea in relation to music and speakers this is what i had originally intended it to be for but I won't be using it for this anymore as the systems i currently have are perfectly fine for what i want. This is why i now want to use the cat 5 for something else as i am pretty sure it can be a benefit to me.

newbuild06

bk wrote: »

Your cat5 is not required for music today, but it is still incredibly useful for improving the quality of the wifi in your home.

If you have any video streaming devices (Shield TV, etc.) then ideally they should be hooked up to your cat5 network, rather then using wifi, that helps take the strain off your wifi network.

Basically anything that is fixed and has an ethernet port (desktop PC's, etc.) should use your ethernet network.

If you want to improve your wifi today or in the future, then this will be priceless. It will allow you to put wireless access points in each room of your house, with the data backhauled over the ethernet cables back to your broadband modem. This is how high quality wifi in offices, etc. is done.

Thanks, i was hoping i could use it to improve the wifi signal around the house as it is pretty bad in some rooms.

bk

newbuild06 wrote: »

Thanks, i was hoping i could use it to improve the wifi signal around the house as it is pretty bad in some rooms.

It can definitely help with that.

Then check out Ubiquiti AP's, a couple of those around your home and you will have great performance. Though they maybe a bit more on the technical side to set up.

Or the TP-Link EAP ones for a cheaper option and very good performance. Seem to have great reviews.

Google Wifi is another, less geeky option. Just make sure to use the ethernet backhaul and not wireless mesh.

stimpson

Is it cat5e or cat5? Cat5 can just about support gigabit Ethernet over short distances assuming proper termination. Cat5e is designed for gigabit and should be fine.

If you can only get 100mbit over cat5 then I would argue if it's worthwhile compared to 802.11ac wifi. Having said that, if you're not a heavy user and internet connection is < 100mbit then it may be fine for your needs. It will certainly have enough bandwidth for a couple of 4K video streams.

bk

Good point and you could easily test it with a laptop, without first getting the AP's

However even if it is only 100mb/s could still be worth it. While 802.11ac router might give you 200Mb/s+ in the same room, I can find it can quickly drop to 20Mb/s or less on the other side of the house, depending on materials in the wall, distances, etc.

So in that case, a solid 100Mb/s in every room can still be a good upgrade. More about reliability and consistency rather then tip-top performance.

Worth testing though, as their would be no point in buying higher end models if you have this limitation.

Also if that was the case, then a tri-band wireless mesh setup might give better performance, but also would be a lot more expensive.

Also newbuild06, what router are you currently using? Sometimes simply upgrading to a high quality 802.11ac router and putting it high up can greatly boost performance, without needing to mess with multiple AP's.

Sorry for the seemingly conflicting info, this stuff can be a bit complex and it can depend on your home, setup, etc.

I'd recommend starting by just testing your ethernet cables and going from their.

stimpson

bk wrote: »

Good point and you could easily test it with a laptop, without first getting the AP's

However even if it is only 100mb/s could still be worth it. While 802.11ac router might give you 200Mb/s+ in the same room, I can find it can quickly drop to 20Mb/s or less on the other side of the house, depending on materials in the wall, distances, etc.

So in that case, a solid 100Mb/s in every room can still be a good upgrade. More about reliability and consistency rather then tip-top performance.

Worth testing though, as their would be no point in buying higher end models if you have this limitation.

Also if that was the case, then a tri-band wireless mesh setup might give better performance, but also would be a lot more expensive.

Also newbuild06, what router are you currently using? Sometimes simply upgrading to a high quality 802.11ac router and putting it high up can greatly boost performance, without needing to mess with multiple AP's.

Sorry for the seemingly conflicting info, this stuff can be a bit complex and it can depend on your home, setup, etc.

I'd recommend starting by just testing your ethernet cables and going from their.

The other issue with wireless is that bandwidth is shared across all devices. At least with cat5 you would have dedicated bandwidth and no issues with interference etc.

wexfordman2

stimpson wrote: »

Is it cat5e or cat5? Cat5 can just about support gigabit Ethernet over short distances assuming proper termination. Cat5e is designed for gigabit and should be fine.

If you can only get 100mbit over cat5 then I would argue if it's worthwhile compared to 802.11ac wifi. Having said that, if you're not a heavy user and internet connection is < 100mbit then it may be fine for your needs. It will certainly have enough bandwidth for a couple of 4K video streams.

If he has ten cat5 runs and each is capable of 100m, then thats 500m load taken off your WiFi (theoretically if all are used at max at one time), but even if 3 of them are in use at one time peak capability, its still a huge advantage.

Def worth terminating and using.

stimpson

wexfordman2 wrote: »

If he has ten cat5 runs and each is capable of 100m, then thats 500m load taken off your WiFi (theoretically if all are used at max at one time), but even if 3 of them are in use at one time peak capability, its still a huge advantage.

Def worth terminating and using.

Yeah. Absolutely. I forget not everyone is a data hoarder like me!