ADSL Cable

H

HB13DISH

Retired Mod
My Location
Middle East - Israel
Our local telephone company Bezeq is offering high speed internet with several download speed options, from 750Kb/s to 8 Mb/s.
Usually they put a filter inside the standard telephone socket on the wall, and you need to run two different cables, one to the telephone receiver and another from the ADSL output on the filter to the ADSL modem, which sits near the PC.
The distance between the ADSL output and the modem in my case is about 8 meters, and I am just wondering about the ADSL cable quality and if I need to change it to something else of better quality for higher speed upgrade.
I am considering 4.0Mb/s upgrade and would like to know if the standard telephone cable is adequate for such a speed or do I need to change it and in this case to which type of cable.
I haven't seen any telephone cables in shops for high speed, so I am guessing that the standard one is good.
 
No I do not believe there is anything to change it to. The joke is that copper can run at phenomenally high speeds itself with the correct compression software and equipment at each end but the higher the speed the more susceptible to EM glitches. The shorter the better for that cable, in other words if you can, try to move the modem nearer to the connection box for best results.
 
Topper said:
No I do not believe there is anything to change it to. The joke is that copper can run at phenomenally high speeds itself with the correct compression software and equipment at each end but the higher the speed the more susceptible to EM glitches. The shorter the better for that cable, in other words if you can, try to move the modem nearer to the connection box for best results.
Click to expand...

Thanks Topper, this might be a good idea.:)
As the PC position can't be changed, I could put the modem very near the filter and have a very short standard ADSL cable, and then run a a 10 meter CAT-5 shielded cable from the modem to the PC and router. This should take care of the EM glitches.
Do you see any unforeseen problems with the long Ethernet cable?
 
No I would not think so, it takes quite disruptive pulsing to upset a cat5 however, it is not unknown. It is standard practice in the UK to use a special combination plastic trunking for power and data in shops and schools etc and the cables, power and data are only separated by a couple of inches, transformers of any kind do need to be avoided though. The largest spike we used to get at work which used to swamp that part of the network was when they switched on the industrial electric cooker range in the cafeteria every morning about 9.15am
 
I'd second moving the modem as close to the socket as you can get, but then, the signal still has a few miles to the local exchange before it reaches you, so probably wouldn't be much difference with or without an 8m extension... :)

I remember a few years back, Belkin sold a high-speed telephone cable, I bought one for my Dial-up access at the time and it did naff-all, but probably would help with an ADSL line... :)

As for signal degradation on the line, my mother's partner, a former GPO/BT engineer, says he's amazed you can get such speeds at all over twisted pair lines, as the magnetic fields generated really hampers the line's performance, which is why that the further you are from the local exchange, the slower the broadband gets (aswell as the quieter the line is for voice calls), that's why cable DSL is much better than twisted pair ADSL, but of course, cable's not available in all places, whereas telephone lines are... :)

Oh, and as for the 8m CAT5, no problem, there are longer lengths running through offices and suchlike without problems, so you'll be fine at only 8m... :)
 
Just a little update on this.
I had a technician from the telephone company, to check why they couldn't set me up for 4.0Mb/400Kb ADSL, it turned out that my moden is not fast enough, so I got a new modem on lease.
I asked him about changing the ADSL cable to LAN cable and he told me that it would be a good idea.
After he went, I connected to the internet with the new modem, and I started getting disconnections every 10-15 minutes and then no problems for many hours.
After few days, I called the support line, and they made changes to my setup from their end and after that I hardly get any disconnections.
The trouble with the new modem is that it gets quite hot, so I got a ventilator blowing on it and me.
If I put it near the filter and replace the ADSL cable with an 8m LAN cable, then I would need another small fan blowing on it.
So I am not changing anything for the time being until I get the fan.
 
cat5e is rated to about 100m (300ft). Make sure you wire it correctly for best performance as it can be slowed down on a short run or even stopped on a long run if wired incorrectly.

See wiring diagrams and instructions here _http://www.lanshack.com/make-cat5E.aspx

Rick
 
rick1980 said:
cat5e is rated to about 100m (300ft). Make sure you wire it correctly for best performance as it can be slowed down on a short run or even stopped on a long run if wired incorrectly.

See wiring diagrams and instructions here _http://www.lanshack.com/make-cat5E.aspx

Rick
Click to expand...

I already have a 7.6m CAT5e cable from Belkin in it's original packaging.
Wasn't going to build it myself.
 
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