Poor wired connection over long distance

L

lynx6200

New Member
I recently ran an ethernet cat5 cable from my router in the main house to a separate building about 500 feet away. The cable in total length is maybe 800 feet... I connected a laptop and found that the connection works, however it appears to be quite slow and theres possible data loss.

When I ran the ping command I found it often seems to get a 25% and 50% data loss.

Using a browser does work, but its a bit slow, almost like a dial up connection (we have dsl), where the images are slow loading. I can also access files on the network, but those load up slowly as well.

Is there anything you guys might be able to recommend, a bit of trouble was put into running this cable and protecting with it tubing under the ground.

Thanks
 
I did an experiment last year for my gcse science coursework, it was to do with resistance in a wire. I found out that the longer a wire is the more resistance to the current it will have! Your problem could be down to that, although i don't know whether the same principle applies when using a cat5 cable.
 
cat5 is spec'd at running a maximum of 100 meters with no miminal signal loss. You need to add what is called a repeater about every 300 feet.
 
Yeah, ive heard that before so I guess that would be that cause of the problem, but I thought cat5 was supposed to be pretty good over a long distance. I see now it mentions on the web a recommended distance of 328 feet. I don't think the distances I mentioned are super accurate, but give or take 200 feet. Is there anything else I could do, better cables? Fiber optic is too expensive I think, but in any case it would be a pain to re-run this.
 
100m is the golden rule or you are likely to suffer packet loss.

Stick a network switch half way and see how that goes. A cheap netgear switch is going to be cheaper than a repeater, and does the same job. You will need a power supply for the switch which may be a problem to you!

Fibre would be the best bet, but it is expensive, and the ends need to be either factory fitted or profesionally made off.
 
you need a repeater i agree with tlarkin you are pushing the limits thats way to far 800 feet is much more then the reccomended 300 or so that we were taught in classses when i took them even cat6 isnt supposed to go that far.
 
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