SOLVED Ethernet cables

[jrj350]

Presently I have an ethernet cable to my desktop. It is an older No, 5 cable.
My present download speed is approximate 90 Mbps.
Would I increase my available Internet speed if I purchased a No. 7a cable?
My recieve/transmit link speed is 1000/1000 Mbps.
Thanks for reading
jrj

 

[Tim Locke]

Your speed form your ISP claims to be 1000 Mbps. Is that fibre to the home?
Your router, is it supplied by the ISP?
Your router's LAN ports are capable of 1000 Mbps? Router make and model will help.
Your desktop LAN port is capable of 1000 Mbps? you can check the actual port in Device Management and perhaps list the make and model of the port here.

How long is the cable between the router and the desktop? For reasonable lengths cat 6 should be enough

 

[Bighorn]

Interesting. With CAT5 I get full Gigabit speeds from all 5 Desktop computers and 2 NAS drives with 2 exceptions, 2 computers show only 100Mbps when on Sleep, when awakened back to Gigabit. Both printers are only 100. Maximum cable length is about 30 ft. and only for 1. None of this affects my 25Mbps Internet service. The Router is a Netgear Nighthawk R7450.

 

[jrj350]

Thanks for the replies.
My question was, if I exchange my old No, 5 cable for a 7a cablw will my download speed increase.

 

[Tim Locke]

Cat 6 allows 1Gbps over 50 feet, maybe up to 100 ft. SO cat 7 will probably go at lot further.

 

[Trouble]

Generally whenever you move to improve things you could expect some benefit. Even if it is just replacing an old cable with a new one.
However, as @Tim Locke was pointing out, an end to end solution is preferred. Just replacing something in the middle of your network without consideration that your ethernet card, your modem port(s), your router port(s) along with those cables also, may still be a bottleneck is far from end to end.

Granted, most everything you might purchase currently is probably going to be Gig Speed (1000 Mbps) capable, (capable being the operative word). There are other considerations as well, length of cable, UTP (unshielded twisted pair) versus STP (shielded twisted pair.

Some quick specs

AND
Watch this

The guy, on what looks to be a pretty nice setup tested in realtime Cat5 versus Cat8 cabling without any real noticeable speed (download or upload) benefit.

 

[jrj350]

Thanks for the replies.
I have ordered a 7a cable to replace my old 5 cable. I will get back here to report on the result, when it arrives.
That might take a few weeks.
jrj

 

[Clintlgm]

Thanks for the replies.
My question was, if I exchange my old No, 5 cable for a 7a cablw will my download speed increase.

I think the answer is no, changing cables is not going to make your internet speed any faster, Not many ISP are providing more than 300 Mbs. Your Cat 5e cable will handle up to 1000MBS. Now then if your cable is old it may not be putting out full bandwidth. So changing it to a new Cat 5e may help if that is the issue. Changing to a Cat 6 or 7 may help in that situation also. Although you will find they are much Larger and Stiffer cables to deal with.

 

[jrj350]

Thanks. I am waiting for a new cable and will report back here when I receive it and get it checked out.

 

[jrj350]

Cable finally arrived. There was no difference between the new 7 cable and the old 5 cable.

 

[BigFeet]

Sounds like you have a 10/100 ethernet adapter. You'd be capped at about 94 Mbps. I get over 350 Mbps (advertised as 300) with cat 5e on one PC, and 94 Mbps on another. Same cat 5e. Gigabit ethernet adapter on one, 10/100 on the other.

 

[jrj350]

I have to admit, I am confused. My average download speed is now running at about 150 Mbps. That is using the wifi connection 5 MHz.
That is me sitting about 5 meters from the router. My wife, sitting on top of the router is running at nearly 500 Mbps. I am well content with 150 Mbps so any more investigation just causes me more headaches.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.
jrj