a new (?) netgear router.

mikey
mikey
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RE: RE: I bought a small

Quote:
Quote:
I bought a small cable tester and we test every cable after he builds it for me. Years ago I bought a 1000 foot box of cat5 cable on ebay and have loaned it out to everyone, yet I still have 1/4 of the box left! At 40 bucks it was a VERY good buy!! One of my friends even wired his single story 3 bedroom home with it, he still lives there and loves it. He may have even let his son use it on his own home, but I wouldn't care even if he had told me.

Same gig here. I've got a 300m box of CAT5, more than 1/2 left, and do my own cable assembly. In thinking of speeds remember the connections! A little loosening may slow a connection without breaking it. Not all the male terminators & female receptors match very well in milling and the wee detente tag on the cable termination - the plastic bit with the notch that is supposed to spring out a tad and so catch the lip - is renowned for being crap and breaking etc ( that has always annoyed me intensely ).

... so specifically the copper contacts won't always meet with sufficient area of overlap and thus the capacitance especially will vary. Thus the end impedance won't match specifications and reflections/losses etc arise, but always in the direction of reducing signal rates by confounding valid voltage levels.

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) Note to assemblers : It's the orange/orange&white pair that you have to trim slightly longer because, as the diagram indicates, you have to move just that bit extra to the sides to bring them in line with the correction termination slots. Also if you don't have a good dedicated crimping tool ( for an RJ45 ) you are insane to try any of this .... :-)

( edit ) Whoops, I should qualify that : the colors and which are swapped etc depend upon the setup/convention/usage ( confusing ), though any router built this millennium should cope with variants by sensing upon connection.

( edit ) My explanation may sound odd because one doesn't normally think of a metallic wire as a waveguide. But indeed it is ! That's exactly how AC power is transmitted by push-me-pull-you without any given electron necessarily traversing the distance to be spanned. If one looks at the very high voltage transmission lines, say 1+ Megavolts, they are often arranged in groups of four with suitable spacers to prevent shorts. This makes any radiation of quadrupolar pattern and thus quite suppressed.

Your picture is interesting, I have been only swapping the middle two pairs of wires, not every pair of wires. But as you said as long as both ends of the cable are the same the router will just send the signal down the wire to the next connection. I just did a speed test on my laptop and while it is running 'g' it is only getting 25/18. My desktop, which is hard wired, is getting 43/34, so my wireless IS slower. Time to run more wires I guess!!

And I too HATE those plastic thingys on top of the cables, I can't tell you how many I have broken off just from plugging and unplugging wires!

paul milton
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RE: Same gig here. I've

Quote:


Same gig here. I've got a 300m box of CAT5, more than 1/2 left, and do my own cable assembly. In thinking of speeds remember the connections! A little loosening may slow a connection without breaking it. Not all the male terminators & female receptors match very well in milling and the wee detente tag on the cable termination - the plastic bit with the notch that is supposed to spring out a tad and so catch the lip - is renowned for being crap and breaking etc ( that has always annoyed me intensely ).

... so specifically the copper contacts won't always meet with sufficient area of overlap and thus the capacitance especially will vary. Thus the end impedance won't match specifications and reflections/losses etc arise, but always in the direction of reducing signal rates by confounding valid voltage levels.


that drives me bonkers, just had one snap on me this morning as it got caught on another wire, ive GOT to invest in "anti snag boots" if i can remember what there actually called..

i used to use the kind where you could push the wires all the way through the jack before crimping, this insured 1. they where in the right order, and 2. they had a good contact, but monoprice dont sell them any more, i all ways thought that kind had a "short potential" so maybe thats why they dont carry them any more.

now though i use the kind with an insert [url="http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=105&cp_id=10513&cs_id=1051305&p_id=7266&seq=1&format=2]Cat6 Plug Solid W/Insert[/url] in the description theres a link to a pdf that shows how to use them, basically you push the wires through the insert first, insuring they are in the right order. then you trim the wires to match the end of the insert, insert the uh insert in the plug and crimp.

seeing without seeing is something the blind learn to do, and seeing beyond vision can be a gift.

Holmis
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RE: that drives me bonkers,

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that drives me bonkers, just had one snap on me this morning as it got caught on another wire, ive GOT to invest in "anti snag boots" if i can remember what there actually called..


As said in the video guide on the page you tried to link to there called "Relief boots".

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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If I've read those links

If I've read those links correctly : the strain relief boots will help to prevent the cable's wires being pulled out of the cable terminator ( by not being held merely by the copper barbs that pierce the individual wires upon crimping ) :

.... but does not prevent the terminator falling out of the RJ45 jack if the little detente piece snaps.

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) I mean this is like having really high quality tyres fitted to a car, but only using $1 bolts to keep them attached to the car ! A wheel bouncing off into a paddock doesn't enhance the vehicle's road adhesion! :-)

( edit ) Ah, now there are these sleeves/boots :

... which I have used but the detentes don't always fit inside the little hemispherical 'hood', and usually this sleeve prevents the detente from sticking out enough to catch the lip on the RJ45 jack. There ! I have expressed my displeasure most precisely now .... :-)

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

mikey
mikey
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RE: ( edit ) Ah, now there

Quote:


( edit ) Ah, now there are these sleeves/boots :

... which I have used but the detentes don't always fit inside the little hemispherical 'hood', and usually this sleeve prevents the detente from sticking out enough to catch the lip on the RJ45 jack. There ! I have expressed my displeasure most precisely now .... :-)

My problem with some of these is once I get them plugged in I can't unplug them!! The rubber boot goes all the way up against the hub and is too stiff to allow the little tab to be pushed down! I LOVE them when they work, but when they don't I HATE them!!

And I too have started buying the 'pass-thru' connectors, my son still builds them for me when I need some, but he likes these too. I now have a drawer full of wires of varying lengths so he doesn't have to build me any very often. For my attic drops I bought cables with the ends already on them, but will leave extra cable in each box in case they go bad.

Richard Haselgrove
Richard Haselgrove
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RE: Your picture is

Quote:

Your picture is interesting, I have been only swapping the middle two pairs of wires, not every pair of wires. But as you said as long as both ends of the cable are the same the router will just send the signal down the wire to the next connection. I just did a speed test on my laptop and while it is running 'g' it is only getting 25/18. My desktop, which is hard wired, is getting 43/34, so my wireless IS slower. Time to run more wires I guess!!


What's more, it's a standard - specifically, TIA/EIA-568 - and I've always found it's better to follow standards if it costs no more than doing it any-which-way.

Specifically, Mike has illustrated T568A (as it's usually known): I've always found that to be commoner in telephone systems. Computer network wiring is more commonly made up to T568B - which is electrically the same, but with the white/orange - orange/white pair connected to the top pins 1 and 2, and the white/green - green/white pair connected to the symmetrical pins 3 and 6.

I too have done the sort of networking which starts with an electric drill, a 18" masonry bit, and a set of stepladders.....

... and I've still got the boxes of Cat 5 cable in my cellar to this day.

Note that Cat 5 cable can be bought in two forms: solid core and stranded. The stuff which comes in 1,000-foot boxes is almost always solid core: it's designed for permanent, fixed, infrastructure situations. It's designed for connection to patch panels or the faceplates on wall outlets, using an IDC 'punchdown' tool. That's the sort of setup I'd use for your project: run the stiff solid-core cable as far as the skirting board (baseboard? floor moulding? kick board?), and terminate it with a fixed socket.

Those little RJ45 plugs with the catch which breaks off are much easier to fit on the softer, more flexible, stranded cable: use that to make up short-length patch cables to connect your equipment to the wall socket. I used to make those up too, until I got bored and found that if you purchase wisely, you can buy them ready-made and certified for much the same price as the cost of the parts. Just don't buy them in high-street computer shops, where the mark-up can be horrendous.

Personally, I like the ones with an integral strain relief like this:

- doesn't get in the way of the latch for unplugging, but does stop the wires working loose in the connector. I usually break the latches off by tripping over the cable and ripping it forcefully out of the socket: no sleeve or boot is ever going to stop it breaking under those conditions.

Mike Hewson
Mike Hewson
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Thank you Richard, very

Thank you Richard, very helpful! :-)

Side Note : while assisting my dear mother-in-law's new iPad to take it's first breath, I noticed ( just sitting in my lounge room ) about 4 other WiFi networks listed besides our own. Now we live in a fairly low density housing estate, so my nearest neighbour would be at least 30m away, and yet the signal strengths were enough for the iPad to detect and include in a menu selection. Fortunately they were all encrypted - I only knew the password for ours. Now my son lives down town in a three level block of flats, next to other multilevel blocks of flats and on a good day dozens of networks can be sensed. The Moral ? Choose the highest level of encryption available and don't choose a dumb & short passphrase. Go random/meaningless and long .....

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) And with access to the router settings one can also unilaterally limit spurious WiFi logons anyway ... in any case do not ignore these security issues.

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...

... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal

robl
robl
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RE: Thank you Richard, very

Quote:

Thank you Richard, very helpful! :-)

Side Note : while assisting my dear mother-in-law's new iPad to take it's first breath, I noticed ( just sitting in my lounge room ) about 4 other WiFi networks listed besides our own. Now we live in a fairly low density housing estate, so my nearest neighbour would be at least 30m away, and yet the signal strengths were enough for the iPad to detect and include in a menu selection. Fortunately they were all encrypted - I only knew the password for ours. Now my son lives down town in a three level block of flats, next to other multilevel blocks of flats and on a good day dozens of networks can be sensed. The Moral ? Choose the highest level of encryption available and don't choose a dumb & short passphrase. Go random/meaningless and long .....

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) And with access to the router settings one can also unilaterally limit spurious WiFi logons anyway ... in any case do not ignore these security issues.

I have used the following website to check the condition of my wan side IP. I believe it to be safe. It you are interested it is here. Click on "shields up". Check for open ports, etc.

paul milton
paul milton
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RE: The Moral ? Choose the

Quote:

The Moral ? Choose the highest level of encryption available and don't choose a dumb & short passphrase. Go random/meaningless and long .....

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) And with access to the router settings one can also unilaterally limit spurious WiFi logons anyway ... in any case do not ignore these security issues.

WPA2 Personal (PSK) + AES, 25 character pass phrase :)

not the best, but, i have a few items that dont support "enterprise" mode. ive all so lowered the power of my routers radio (did i mention 3rd party firmware has me spoiled?) so it can barely be picked up at the edge of the property, and took advantage of some distance based settings

not perfect but if your outside, your pretty much not connecting unless your standing directly at a window, in my case the steel framing, steel framed windows, brick siding, and 2 inch thick plaster actually helps with that setup.

i dont bother to hide the SSID, because with the right software it does no good.

Quote:

I have used the following website to check the condition of my wan side IP. I believe it to be safe. It you are interested it is here. Click on "shields up". Check for open ports, etc.

thats good for testing the firewall and "in" but, when it comes to wifi you need to keep people off of your connection that shouldnt be there. shields up cant test for that. i use a simple free (ad supported) "wifi analyzer" on my andorid tablet, in my home i pick up my wifi, and my closest neighbors router, hp printer, and blackberry. thats it, if i walk outside i can pick up at least a dozen others just by standing at my back door. most of them are clearly isp setup "free wifi!!" type networks. all but one have strong encryption, and the one that does not is an intentionally open wifi access with web restrictions.

personally i wouldnt set one of those up, since "you" are responsible for what crosses your connection. that includes illegal downloads, as well as illegal content. if some one uses your connection to do it, you are the one thats held responsible. at least here in the u.s.

and that is why its so important to not only lock the wan side of things, but to lock the wifi side of things as well as you can.

edit: p.s. sorry about that mangled link, in previous post, no idea how that happend. no wait wait, i do. i used quotes on the url, habbit from old html coding, that must have been it.

p.p.s. ive used a premade cable that has "wings" on either side of the clip, and a block at the end so it doesnt get snagged for about 6 years, its my "test out" cable, im amazed its lasted so long. if i could find those boots id be set. easy to squeeze to remove, yet not easy to snag and break the clip.

seeing without seeing is something the blind learn to do, and seeing beyond vision can be a gift.

mikey
mikey
Joined: 22 Jan 05
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RE: Thank you Richard, very

Quote:

Thank you Richard, very helpful! :-)

Side Note : while assisting my dear mother-in-law's new iPad to take it's first breath, I noticed ( just sitting in my lounge room ) about 4 other WiFi networks listed besides our own. Now we live in a fairly low density housing estate, so my nearest neighbour would be at least 30m away, and yet the signal strengths were enough for the iPad to detect and include in a menu selection. Fortunately they were all encrypted - I only knew the password for ours. Now my son lives down town in a three level block of flats, next to other multilevel blocks of flats and on a good day dozens of networks can be sensed. The Moral ? Choose the highest level of encryption available and don't choose a dumb & short passphrase. Go random/meaningless and long .....

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) And with access to the router settings one can also unilaterally limit spurious WiFi logons anyway ... in any case do not ignore these security issues.

I was working on a friends network a few years ago and noticed an unsecured one so connected to it, his was having some MAJOR problems, just to ensure it wasn't the laptop. It worked but I was able to see pictures of the families baby, credit card numbers, etc, etc!! NO I was NOT snooping the numbers were all in text files on the desktop!! I disconnected and never connected again, but on my way home I stopped at a pay phone and called them, when the wife answered I told her her kids were cute and I rattled off a credit card number, then told her how to add a password to the router. The next time I went to my friends house the neighbor had a password!!

Personally I am on Verizon FIOS and they supply the router with wifi built in, they also suggest a password for the wifi based on the serial number of the router, I use that as I don't have to write it down anywhere and it can't be known by others unless you are IN my home to see it, or hack my wifi.

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