Can Cat5e cable (patch cable) connected in series from broadband router to my laptop?

Question

My laptop is in my room upstairs and the router is downstairs (used by my flatmate). I am sick of the slow wireless. Can i just connect series of cables from the router to my laptop>?

Answer 1

The maximum length of a patch cable is 100 feet - any more than that and data starts getting lost. Unless your house is extremely tall(!), you shouldn't have any problems.

If you already have several shorter cables, it is possible to buy a small male-male adapter which joins them together. I got one from Maplin and it works very well - http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=44750 . I wouldn't use more than one in series though, again you could risk data loss.

It's also worth investigating why your wireless is so slow. Even the basic 802.11b wireless speed should be faster than the fastest broadband connection, so there is something strange going on if your internet browsing is slow. Have you tried changing the channel of the wireless, to avoid any interference with your neighbours' router? (Of course you could be trying to play multiplayer LAN games with your flatmate, which are better with the fastest possible wired connections.)

Answer 2

yes their is no problem using cat 5, cat5e or cat6 cableing. be they straight through or crossed (required for peer to peer networking)

on any cable length you will suffer signal degregation, the longer the cable the more the signal loss, simple equation. the more connectors the greater the loss, so if possible use one cable and not find any connecters to connect them togather.

the maximum length is deffinatly NOT 10 metres, believe me, like someone else said I also had a laptop up stairs and the cable run was 30m, didn't need it that long but it was a 30m cable. At work we routinly use cables over that length. but i would suggest 30m be the maximum you should consider using in a home network and if you can get away with using less then that is what you should do.

Good luck i don't see you having any problems

Answer 3

All the answers seem to be interpreting your question differently than I do. I believe you are saying the desktops are connected to the router with wires (ethernet cables) and you are not able to get a wifi signal. I would imagine the router is NOT wifi. If it doesn't have an antenna sticking up from the back, or specifically says it is a wireless router then it is not a wireless router, but rather a router only. In order to use your wireless (wifi) adapter to access the internet, you will need a wireless router. You can use it in addition to the router you already have (a trick to install), or just replace the router you currently have. Good Luck

Answer 4

Wow, that sounds like a long distance.
Are we talking 50 feet , 100 feet or more.
If so it would be a good idea to get the best cable you can afford. With This long length the cable is important and don't chain different cables , use one long continuous cable. This will keep problems to a minimum. Other wise reflections and impedance mismatch will affect quality and speed.
How is your connection slow, remember not all Internet resources have fast delivery. You may be at the mercy of too many users trying to use the same resource.

Let me know.

Answer 5

The maximum length for a cat5e cable is slated for 100m (approximately 300ft). Personally I experience signal degregation above 150ft, but that was most likely due to interference from power cables. They actually make a square plastic device that enables you to link two RJ-45 connections together (in order to use two different cables for one connection). They are fairly inexpensive and would probably be a better route than purchasing a really long cat5e cable.

Answer 6

Yes, you can you that. USe the Ethernet RJ-45 Cable to connect the laptop to the router.

Answer 7

The cable I use is almost 30 metres long, so I guess you'd be alright in doing the same. (Our router used to be approximately 25 metres from where my computer was.)

Answer 8

Rubbish from previous answers. Cable must be less than 10 metres long. That's the standard, and must be a broadband ADSL cable!

Answer 9

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