5 ms·

I bought a giant spool of Cat-6 cable and now I run around like Johnny Ethernet-seed upgrading my friends' internet. For most homes, you know exactly where you

I bought a giant spool of Cat-6 cable and now I run around like Johnny Ethernet-seed upgrading my friends' internet. For most homes, you know exactly where your datahogs are going to be - computer desk, smart tv, consoles, etc. People are addicted to the convenience of running everything through the air, but an hour in a crawlspace and you've got something faster and more reliable.

vageli 5y ago
Forget the crawlspace. If there is no spouse involved you can just throw the cord out the window and connect it downstairs.
- vidanay 5y ago
  I'm guessing you live in a very temperate region with no insects. LOL
  - tedunangst 5y ago
    You can usually sneak the thinner flat ethernet cables through the window seal without much gap.
    - hyperman1 5y ago
      Thanks for your answer. I was wondering what kind of insects were eating plastic cables. Doh!
    - traceroute66 5y ago
      > flat ethernet cables Ethernet cables are round and have twisted pairs inside for a reason. CAT6 etc. have a plastic spine running down the middle for a reason. Flat cables are NOT ethernet and they are not "CAT" anything. They don't comply to any standards whatsoever. Don't waste your money supporting an industry making products that should not exist.
      - Terr_ 5y ago
        I don't disagree that some of the marketing out there is misleading and customers may get a product with a lot of line-noise, but... > Flat cables are NOT ethernet Is this perhaps confusing signalling with the medium? If I take a modern home network and swap out all the cables with RJ-45 connectors for "flat" versions, and is still works and machines still talk to one another... what kind of network should we be calling that if not "Ethernet? Does the one true Ethernet require coaxial cables and vampire-taps of the 1970s, and everything in the last few decades has been mislabeled?
      - zbrozek 5y ago
        If the channel is is in-spec, then the geometry doesn't matter. The 802.3 series doesn't specify the cable geometry. They do specify channel parameters like FEXT, NEXT, IL, and RL across frequency ranges of interest. Maybe the CAT specs are more into the cable construction than the performance; I haven't read any of those.
      - fuzzfactor 5y ago
        Not my downvote, but Your ethernet signal is basically an A/C pattern of square waves going down the wire. This is the analog manifestation of your digital data and it behaves like other analog signals going through wires. A twisted pair of wires naturally rejects outside interference better than a random arrangement. However truly parallel wires can be almost as effective under many conditions. An outer well-grounded shield sheath surrounding one or more sensitive conductors can provide even more isolation from nearby signals or noise. Unintended diodes caused by corrosion, unsoldered connections, or dissimilar metals can sometimes compromise analog representations of digital signals by causing assymetry during zero-crossing events.
sixstringtheory 5y ago
Same here. I bought 1000’ of cable, a bag of 50 RJ45 connectors and a crimper for about the same price as the 2 50’ cables I was originally looking at. Value of the knowledge on how to make the cables and have exact lengths: priceless.
Nextgrid 5y ago
Same here. Demonizing Wi-Fi (like some comments here) is not the answer; instead, understand its limitations and use the best tool for the job. Anything that can be wired (anything stationary basically) should be, so that you save the (limited) radio spectrum for the stuff that can't be wired such as mobile devices.
Kerrick 5y ago
I have a crawlspace and a spool of Cat-6 cable, along with plenty of faceplates and a drywall saw, but I have no freaking idea how to get the cable from "in the crawlspace" to "coming out of the drywall." Any tips/links?
- robbedpeter 5y ago
  You use wall fishing kits and practice. https://youtu.be/O95FJuzHaxQ https://youtu.be/O95FJuzHaxQ Or... train a pet rat! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_rat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_rat Rats have been used for networking since the 90s, it's apparently an easy trick to get them to do.
  - KineticLensman 5y ago
    I see your rats and raise you ferrets. The owner of Cragside House in Northumberland [0] used his hunting ferrets to install under-floor cables in 1880 (or so). This was preferable to ripping up the extensive wooden floors. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside
- ridiculous_fish 5y ago
  I ran Cat6 from my router-equipped living room into my bedroom. I'm very pleased with the results, here's what I did. I chose a Ubiquiti "Access Point AC In-wall." It's a WiFi AP, with 4 GbE ports, and draws PoE, which means no plugs needed at the point of installation. It looks very clean, just a neat rectangular box affixed to the wall, delivering both WiFi and 4 wired jacks (one doesn't work, oh well). Using a manual drywall saw, I cut a hole in my wall, at the point of installation but smaller than the faceplate, so it would be covered. Next I used an 18 inch spade bit to drill through the sill plate of my floor. This part was the most nerve-wracking: I couldn't see what I was doing through the drywall, and sill plates are very hard. Eventually I busted through, and left the drill bit in the hole as a marker. I climbed down into the crawlspace and fished the Ethernet cable up through the hole, with some help from my wife. I then ran the other end to the living room, just in the crawlspace dirt (stapling it to studs was possible but didn't seem important); the other side had a pre-drilled hole for cable and I fished it up through. I'm not especially handy but wiring my home for Ethernet was a manageable adventure, give it a try!
jjav 5y ago
Same here, big spool of cable, crimpers and connectors. WiFi is nice for what it's good for: mobility. Like when I want to work in the backyard for an hour because it's so nice outside, or when I need to walk around the house laptop in hand for some reason. But any spot where I'll be online for more than like an hour a week, I install ethernet and wall jacks.
vitro 5y ago
Although more expensive, because of rooms constellation we have, I've resorted to bridge some areas by using powerline adapters and it works surprisingly well, if you are lucky and find a socket combination where devices see each other.

vageli 5y ago

Forget the crawlspace. If there is no spouse involved you can just throw the cord out the window and connect it downstairs.

vidanay 5y ago
I'm guessing you live in a very temperate region with no insects. LOL
- tedunangst 5y ago
  You can usually sneak the thinner flat ethernet cables through the window seal without much gap.
  - hyperman1 5y ago
    Thanks for your answer. I was wondering what kind of insects were eating plastic cables. Doh!
  - traceroute66 5y ago
    > flat ethernet cables Ethernet cables are round and have twisted pairs inside for a reason. CAT6 etc. have a plastic spine running down the middle for a reason. Flat cables are NOT ethernet and they are not "CAT" anything. They don't comply to any standards whatsoever. Don't waste your money supporting an industry making products that should not exist.
    - Terr_ 5y ago
      I don't disagree that some of the marketing out there is misleading and customers may get a product with a lot of line-noise, but... > Flat cables are NOT ethernet Is this perhaps confusing signalling with the medium? If I take a modern home network and swap out all the cables with RJ-45 connectors for "flat" versions, and is still works and machines still talk to one another... what kind of network should we be calling that if not "Ethernet? Does the one true Ethernet require coaxial cables and vampire-taps of the 1970s, and everything in the last few decades has been mislabeled?
    - zbrozek 5y ago
      If the channel is is in-spec, then the geometry doesn't matter. The 802.3 series doesn't specify the cable geometry. They do specify channel parameters like FEXT, NEXT, IL, and RL across frequency ranges of interest. Maybe the CAT specs are more into the cable construction than the performance; I haven't read any of those.
    - fuzzfactor 5y ago
      Not my downvote, but Your ethernet signal is basically an A/C pattern of square waves going down the wire. This is the analog manifestation of your digital data and it behaves like other analog signals going through wires. A twisted pair of wires naturally rejects outside interference better than a random arrangement. However truly parallel wires can be almost as effective under many conditions. An outer well-grounded shield sheath surrounding one or more sensitive conductors can provide even more isolation from nearby signals or noise. Unintended diodes caused by corrosion, unsoldered connections, or dissimilar metals can sometimes compromise analog representations of digital signals by causing assymetry during zero-crossing events.

sixstringtheory 5y ago

Same here. I bought 1000’ of cable, a bag of 50 RJ45 connectors and a crimper for about the same price as the 2 50’ cables I was originally looking at. Value of the knowledge on how to make the cables and have exact lengths: priceless.

Nextgrid 5y ago

Same here. Demonizing Wi-Fi (like some comments here) is not the answer; instead, understand its limitations and use the best tool for the job. Anything that can be wired (anything stationary basically) should be, so that you save the (limited) radio spectrum for the stuff that can't be wired such as mobile devices.

Kerrick 5y ago

I have a crawlspace and a spool of Cat-6 cable, along with plenty of faceplates and a drywall saw, but I have no freaking idea how to get the cable from "in the crawlspace" to "coming out of the drywall." Any tips/links?

robbedpeter 5y ago
You use wall fishing kits and practice. https://youtu.be/O95FJuzHaxQ https://youtu.be/O95FJuzHaxQ Or... train a pet rat! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_rat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_rat Rats have been used for networking since the 90s, it's apparently an easy trick to get them to do.
- KineticLensman 5y ago
  I see your rats and raise you ferrets. The owner of Cragside House in Northumberland [0] used his hunting ferrets to install under-floor cables in 1880 (or so). This was preferable to ripping up the extensive wooden floors. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cragside
ridiculous_fish 5y ago
I ran Cat6 from my router-equipped living room into my bedroom. I'm very pleased with the results, here's what I did. I chose a Ubiquiti "Access Point AC In-wall." It's a WiFi AP, with 4 GbE ports, and draws PoE, which means no plugs needed at the point of installation. It looks very clean, just a neat rectangular box affixed to the wall, delivering both WiFi and 4 wired jacks (one doesn't work, oh well). Using a manual drywall saw, I cut a hole in my wall, at the point of installation but smaller than the faceplate, so it would be covered. Next I used an 18 inch spade bit to drill through the sill plate of my floor. This part was the most nerve-wracking: I couldn't see what I was doing through the drywall, and sill plates are very hard. Eventually I busted through, and left the drill bit in the hole as a marker. I climbed down into the crawlspace and fished the Ethernet cable up through the hole, with some help from my wife. I then ran the other end to the living room, just in the crawlspace dirt (stapling it to studs was possible but didn't seem important); the other side had a pre-drilled hole for cable and I fished it up through. I'm not especially handy but wiring my home for Ethernet was a manageable adventure, give it a try!

jjav 5y ago

Same here, big spool of cable, crimpers and connectors. WiFi is nice for what it's good for: mobility. Like when I want to work in the backyard for an hour because it's so nice outside, or when I need to walk around the house laptop in hand for some reason. But any spot where I'll be online for more than like an hour a week, I install ethernet and wall jacks.

vitro 5y ago

Although more expensive, because of rooms constellation we have, I've resorted to bridge some areas by using powerline adapters and it works surprisingly well, if you are lucky and find a socket combination where devices see each other.