ethernet vs telephone cable

jake_bullet_2

You'll probably find that just about everywhere stocks Cat5e, it's pretty much standard, Cat5 isn't seen much anymore to be honest.

Also, Cat5e actually already supports Gigabit ethernet.

I was wondering where you actually use the woolies cable? since you say it was quite thin telephone cable and the jacks fitted I'm wondering if they were in fact RJ11 plugs?

These are a bit smaller than RJ45 and only have 6 pins, not 8. They will fit in the jacks though.

Since you also mention broadband I'm thinking that maybe you use this cable between say a microfilter and modem, rather than in an actual ethernet network. Is this correct?

If so then you don't need Cat5 cable at all..

sra

Hi

the cable was indeed used for a short period of time to connect the modem to the filter.

I'm about to network two computers with a router so I need something to connect everything up. To cope with the two computers I'm also upgrading to 1Mbps broadband.

jake_bullet_2

Hi,

You're right to look for ethernet cable to network the computers, telephone cable won't be up to the job as LincsLad has already mentioned, as for a connection between a filter and modem, no requirement for ethernet cable there although it never hurts to use a cable that's technically too good for the job.

The only reservation I'd have about the connection between the filter and modem is not to use flat cable unless it's really short, maybe 1 or 2 metres maximum, since the pairs are not twisted it won't provide any imunity to induced noise and this type of cable is often stranded rather than solid and the signal attenuation is much higher.

A good quality twisted pair telephone cable will easily meet Cat3 standards (10Mb/s) and so your 1Mb/s link is well within it's capabilites. It's also a bit easier to get an RJ11 socket on it since it's a little thinner than most Cat5 cable.

Most plug in type microfilters only accept RJ11 plugs, not the larger RJ45 which you get on Cat5 leads, the faceplate type filters accept either though.

Hope some of this info helps.

sra

thanks for everyones help

Computers now set up with the router using good quality 5e cable.


now if I could just figure out how to share files between computers.....

LincsLad_3

...now if I could just figure out how to share files between computers.....

Can all the computers SEE all the other computers on the network? Go into Network Connections and select Windows Networks to see all connected.

After that you have to go to the computer holding the files and tell it to share a particular folder... are you running WinXP? Right-click on the folder you want to share and select the "sharing & security" option. Then enable sharing for that folder.

Note: You can't share the root level of your system drive (e.g. C:\), however other drive letter folders and sub folders on the main system drive can be shared.

sra

hi

I got it working.

Had to allow access the right ports (137-139) on my firewall - Firewall should have been the first thing I checked but ended up being the last

sra

... but sometims the firewall still rejects the ping

MisterT2

Some firewalls can be set to accept/reject pings.

sra

I have Mcafee personal firewall plus and there is an option to allow pings. But how safe is it to accept pings?

I also have Norton Security 2004 that I got for free about a month ago but I've never gotten around to installing it