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Ask YC: Pointers for Running Cat 5?
I need to run some Cat 5. I want to do it myself, but I am little wary of doing a sub-standard job.
I've printed out some on-line directions and I haven't yet bought any tools. Any suggestions on tools, good directions or other pointers?
- cconstantine 18y agoI've wired most of my 60 year old house with cat5. It was surprisingly easy. Why don't you post what directions you've found and see if people have anything to add.
- pmjordan 18y agoRun Cat5e, not Cat5. Get sockets with crimped contacts, not screws. That'll avoid any problems with getting it to run at gigabit - my workstation's onboard network chip is really picky about cable quality for example and will drop to 100Mbit/s on cables that all my other gigabit gear handles just fine. Use cables with shielded RJ-45 connectors, the all-plastic ones can cause trouble when running at 1Gbit/s over longer distances. I don't think there's much of an art to it, just follow the instructions on the web. Crimping your own patch cables is pretty fiddly and tedious, so I try to avoid it. Wall sockets are somewhat better in that respect.