[NCLUG] 100 Mbit cabling

mike cullerton michaelc at cullerton.com
Wed Dec 18 15:18:20 MST 2002


On Wednesday, December 18, 2002, at 08:29 AM, dherr at frii.com wrote:

> I've heard two different answers to this question, and I'd like
> to know the correct answer before I start pulling cable in my house.
> For a 100 Mbit ethernet connection, are all 8 wires needed, or just
> the same 4 wires that are used for 10-BaseT?  This will determine
> how many 8-wire cables I need to bring to a given location.
>

it sounds like you're still getting two different answers to this 
question :)

the 'correct' way to do this is to use all 8 wires (4 pair). actually, 
the 'correct' way for 10BaseT is 8 wires as well. however, (and i'll 
never admit this in public) i've split pairs plenty of times in a pinch 
and it can work over 4 wires.

for home office use, my guess is you won't have much of a problem 
running two connections over one 4 pair cable.

in general, the feeling these days is that cable is relatively cheap 
compared to labor (which is free in your case) and you should always 
try to pull more cable than you think you'll need, since you always 
need more later and it's cheaper to do it now. as one person said, you 
might even use conduit and a pull string.

heck, i've even ran connections over untwisted 25 pair when i had to!

  -- mike cullerton




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