cat5 or coax?

[jrfhoutx]

for the last few months my connection has been getting worse and worse, and for a while there I couldn't even log in to AM. So, I'm getting a new modem from my ISP (comcast, sadly the best of the few choices around) and I'm looking into getting a new router (still using my $20 frys special, Airlink101 AR525W). the biggest problem is that the only cable connection in the room is on the other side of the room and I can't exactly run a cable right through the middle of my living room, so I run it along the wall and it's about 30 feet (~9m). right now it's a coax. it runs from a splitter (about a foot from the wall outlet), around the room to a cable modem. cat5 runs from the cable modem to the router (~2m) and then my PC and 360 both run cat5 to the router (~2m and ~1 m, respectively).

I guess my question is which would it be better to run 30 feet of, coax or cat5?

I'll put the modem on the other side of the room and fork out for 30 feet of cat5 if it will improve my connection, especially now that the dog doesn't chew on cables anymore... so what do you guys think?

[dedafmonteur]

[Q] Is Coaxial Cable faster than CAT 5 Cable?

[A] Not at all. In order to understand the answer to this question, you must first understand the history of the cable itself. Cat 5 Cable originally was designed to handle data transmission speeds of 10 Megabits Per Second. This is the same speed that coaxial cable operates at. Improvements in the construction of CAT 5 Cable, and the further development of twisted pair cabling that has given way to CAT 5e, CAT 6, and many other types of cable has allowed twisted pair cabling to operate at much higher speeds than coaxial cable.

CAT 5 Cable has other specific advantages as well. The cost of twisted pair cabling is much cheaper in most cases than using a coaxial cable. CAT 5 Cable also weighs much less than coaxial cable, and is therefore easier to use in certain installation applications. Continued development of twisted pair cable will allow for even higher transmission speeds in the years to come.

Most CAT 5 Cable is used in applications where computers are joined together on a network. There are also a great deal of installations involving home networks, or at the very least, the sharing of a broadband internet connection between diferent computers in a home or office. All of these installations can be easily and efficiently handled by the use of CAT 5 Cable. It is an effective and inexpensive means to create a reliable network.



that's what i found using google. it seems to me you should go for CAt5.

[robin1989]

i would go for cat 5e or even cat 6

[Modded Matt]

ok, after the textbook google responce, time for practical real world applications:

sorry dude its not going to make any diference. NONE in my condo I am in a similar situation. I have tried and its no diferent. the only advantage to putting your router and modem over where the coax comes out of the wall and running cat 5 (or 5E or6)  is that the cat wire is easier to hide.

Think of how far that coax has been run before you have it. lol adding 40ft to route it accross the room is not going to hurt. if it was wired when the house was built, it would be split and run through the wall to the other side of the room doing exactly what you arte doing now.

The speed coming off the coax is what it is, your not going to majically speed it up by using cat wire.

If you are having issues with coax internet, replace the splitter. go outside and find the outside splitter, replace that also. get a good one, they are only a few bucks. after that if it dont help you must cal the ISP as there is nothing else you can do on your end.

[jrfhoutx]

That's kinda what I figured. I'm going to stick with the coax for now (just cause I already have it in place) and hope that my router holds out for a while longer (the router seems to be working just fine, my 360s and my PC all see eachother and communicate with eachother just fine, it's just somewhere between the router and the wall that I'm having issues with. I've done everything I can think of short of replacing the modem and the coax cable (comcast is going to replace the modem, but there's no way I'm shelling out for a new coax. I've replaced it 4 times previously due to the dog chewing through it when she was teething, and I'm not doing it again unless I know for certain that it's the problem). I've replaced the cat5 between the router and the modem, so I know that wire isn't the problem. I still think my cable modem and my signal from comcast are the problem... I guess I get to have fun calling tech support if the replacement modem doesn't solve the problem.

Thanks for the input and advice, guys. 

[Modded Matt]

I have cox comunications... hahah we wont get into that.... but I was having issues and they can come out with the test equipment and test it coming out of the wall, and test it at the end of your run (as long as you have a cool tech, offer him beer lol thats what I did, he didnt take it but was greatful of the gesture) when he tests it at the end of your run, shake it around a bit to make sure there are no spikes...hence shorts.if its the same at the end of the run as it is in the wall its on thier end.

[FOOKz™]

I would say it depends on your situation.

My setup is in my game room a DSL Modem hooked right next to the area where the signal comes into the house and a 3ft. (1m) CAT6 Ethernet cable out of the modem into my Xbox360 for maximum signal quality. Yes I pull host every other game.

Normally you wouldn't do that.

Only if your worried about speeds and quality you would have to figure out the max lengths of cable for coax/ethernet etc. if you have to run coax with lots of twists and turns then use an two way amp. Also if your coax is longer than 75 feet (25m) then use an amp on the area where the signal is incoming to your splitter.

EDIT: WOOPS forgot to draw that |
this Pink Square is a                   |
Band-Reject Filter at 1.2GHz       \|/



Advantages of Coax-- Easy to amplify, Easy to install.
Disadvantage of Coax-- Needs a modem to convert, running it.

Advantages of Ethernet-- Easiest to run, Plug and Play.
Disadvantages of Ethernet-- Needs a Router to amplify, installing it

When I'm saying installing im talking about fully installing into the wall with the female plugs according to US Building code. To be honest, running a male ethernet/coax cable through the walls without a female dock is a violation... its seen all the time but who really cares?

[jrfhoutx]

ok, my setup is pretty much what FOOKz has drawn up in the 'gaming setup' (except for the amp and the band filter), I did not set up the coax runs, comcast did. All I have done since the whole thing was set up is get a new TV and replace the 25ft coax run a few times (the dog used to like to chew on wires for some strange reason). so far my connection is still up, for now... I ran a speed test and a ping test immediately after my connection came back up and this is what I get:


(this is freaking pathetic, my iphone just ran 1090k down and 300k up over 3G... didn't realize my connection had gotten this bad)

Four minutes later my ping test returns this:

about the same as the first one, if not very slightly better...

An hour later (after dinner) this is what I get:

and then my connection cuts out for a minute or two, comes back up and I get this:


it's one of the strangest things I've ever seen, there's no apparent rhyme or reason to it...


hopefully soon I'll be changing up the whole setup anyway and getting a new router and cabling. I'm planning on getting a nettop as a media center for my TV and putting everything over there anyway and just running a long cat5 over to the PC i'm using now.

[Modded Matt]

you need to call the cable company. the line latency is good, but the speed results are terrable. they man have a piece of failing gear. my dad is a cable internet specialist he said thier equipment fails all the time, and they can hot wire them to make them run another year, or replace them with a refurb and its never capable of the same speed as the origional unit

[dedafmonteur]

Damn those speeds kinda suck dude. i am glad i got that glassfiber stuff. works like a charm!

[laxboy]

I've never had problem with comcast

[budgray19]

yea back in teh day when comcast was still in dallas i didnt have any problems with them. it was untill i was switched to time warner i had problems. then i switched to fios
also at my old house we had loose connections all over teh place. and same with cable outside my house. teh cable was basically sitting on the connection due to wire characteristics of a coax cable. so eveytime we got a stray wind the cable sucked. and we had a cable in teh ground for internet go punctured and would play hell on our internet.

[robin1989]

so is any of you going to get the comcast extreme 105mbps broadband in june - http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/comcast-to-offer-extreme-105mbps-broadband-package-starting-in-j/

[jrfhoutx]

@deda: they don't kinda suck, they totally suck. Houston is one of the comcast areas that has fiberoptic (I think). When everything was working it worked great and was as fast as it's supposed to be.

@bud: I'm gonna go through and check all my connections again and pull all the cover plates off the wall and check those connections, too.

Just through basic process of elimination I still think the modem is the problem, not my wiring (aside from minor hiccups now and then, my TV signal is fine and it feeds from the same outlet. The TV signal in my bedroom is also fine and the outlet for that is literally on the other side of the wall). So, if everything else is ok and their signals are fine, then it can't be the house wiring. That just leaves the modem and my crazy-long coax line... So I guess this weekend I'll hit up Fry's or EPO and snag an extra long Cat5e and move things around to see if that changes things. We'll see if it solves my problem. If it's the modem then I'll have to wait a little while to get it replaced (going out of town this weekend and I get out of work too late to go by the comcast service center or have a tech come out to the house on a weekday). I'm wondering if I should just go buy my own cable modem and use that...

@Matt: yeah for some reason cable co. equipment is junk, I replaced my cable box like 5 times in a year at the last place I lived, they just stopped working. Not sure what the problem is but it's annoying. Believe me though, I will not be getting refurb equipment as a replacement (I seem to have a knack for getting what I want when it comes to situations like this)

anyway, hopefully I will have my connection up and running properly again sometime in the near future...
Post Merge: May 26, 2010, 10:10:55 AM

so is any of you going to get the comcast extreme 105mbps broadband in june - http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/26/comcast-to-offer-extreme-105mbps-broadband-package-starting-in-j/

that would be awesome... But not at $200 a month plus modem fees and $250 installation fee... That's ridiculous, I have no problem paying for bandwidth, but their pricing is a bit outrageous...

[Modded Matt]

im sitting on 5000 ft of cat 5e how much you need, its not going to help, but Ill send it to you if you like. your tv signal is a diffrent frequency. it is the same cable but not necesaraly the related. that cable can have great tv signal and pis poor internet on the same line the internet piece of hardware is failing. I was not refuring to your modem I was refuring to comcast head gear. there should be a big green box in the neighborhood somewhere. thats a hub, tyipically 4 feet cubed. I would bet money that is where your problem lies but you may go to jail if you tamper with it.

[jrfhoutx]

Ok, I understand, thanks for clarifying. Yes there is a box like that, I think it's at the corner ofmy building. I guess i'll have to have a tech sent out when I get the chance... Don't worry about sending any cable, I know some people locally with some bulk Cat5e, thanks for the offer matt.

[jrfhoutx]

Finally have things working again! guess it was my modem cause the connection is back up...


much better...
thanks for the help everyone