Cat 5e or Cat6

[Rekusu]

What ho one and all,

Will be getting fibre to the house in the near future and want the ONT in the loft. Have managed to get a CAT6 cable from the loft to the ground floor 'office' space and will plug the router into the wall plate.
Bandwidth and speed is not an issue as only the two of us using the internet, no gaming, films, etc. Currently getting 35 Mb/s with fibre to the pole via a BT master socket so assume FTTH will be an improvement.

I have a selection of CAT5e cables and wonder if there is likely to be an issue using CAT5e for the last 2-3 meters rather than CAT6?

Thanks and toodle pip

 

[Rodders53]

Cat5E is capable of 1Gbps at up to 100m.
Cat 6 is capable of 10Gbps up to 55m and 1 Gbps up to 100m.

FTTP from most ISPs can range from 74 Mbps to 900Mbps with 1Gbps occasionally. Most ISP routers are 1Gbps switches inside.

Unless the router/switches and connected devices are 2.5Gbps capable nothing will be gained by using cat6 anywhere.

No amateur is likely capable of terminating and testing Cat6 to the 10Gbps spec anyway.

Good luck with getting Openreach staff into your loft space.

 

[Rekusu]

Thanks. I know about the loft H&S business so am designating it as the second floor. As an FYI, attached is an image of my dangerous loft. Given that Openreach will have to attach the fibre to the roof apex at the front of the house, at around 9m high, I can fully understand why a loft is so dangerous!!!

 

[foxhole]

Couldn’t get ISP’s to fit new supply to my loft and it’s a bungalow, have you had any confirmation from installers?

 

[Rekusu]

I'm currently with Plusnet and my contact has ended. We want to keep the phone and Plusnet are not offering VoIP so have to move to EE who do. All are part of the BT group.

I've lost count but four or five orders have been created and then Openreach cancels. I have received three routers and now speaking with the BT Executive Complaints Team, who use all the correct, sympathetic language but still cannot get Openreach to stop cancelling the order.

So to answer your question, it is now a two month, on-going no confirmation.

 

[hllns]

A cat5e patchlead? Don't worry about it, it'll make no difference whatsoever. Like Rodders said Cat6 cable termination is more exacting in terms of twists all the way up to the IDC block etc for it to be "properly" within spec but it would need a cable tester to properly verify it.

Practically speaking it'll usually perform fine unless it's a right dog's breakfast.

 

[flameport]

. We want to keep the phone and Plusnet are not offering VoIP so have to move to EE who do.

You can get VoIP service from any company offering it. Not necessary to bundle it with your broadband provider.

 

[Diver Fred]

By using CAT6 you are 'Future Proofing' your network.

Present use of CAT5 for fly leads won't presently make much difference, longer lengths will.

 

[Rekusu]

Now got the CAT6 from the loft (second floor??) to the area we use an an office / work space. Can hardly describe it as 'future proofing' since I have no idea how a future buyer would use the space.

We built this house and at the time, I had little to no idea about CAT6, did not intend to have anything for myself that needed it, so did not install. I now see that was a bad call and probably should have installed it from every room to somewhere under the stairs. Oh well, next time!!!

 

[spile]

By using CAT6 you are 'Future Proofing' your network.

Present use of CAT5 for fly leads won't presently make much difference, longer lengths will.

Not less than 100m

 

[Rekusu]

Thanks. The lead I have installed is a 50m CAT6 with plug at each end. Rather than cut to the desired length (probably around 25m -30m), I will coil the remainder in the loft so the entire cable is as it came from the factory.

I do have a socket push-down tool but do not want to get into making plugs when I only need two of them.

 

[securespark]

You are not tied to using EE.

My 90 yo Ma is in exactly the same position; she is with Plusnet, they are not offering VOIP, so she would like the freedom to go elsewhere.

She is out of contract, but all the emails and conversations she has had with them are carefully constructed to steer her towards EE. Which, conveniently, is part of BT. You do not have to!

Do an internet search for the Plusnet forum. There are discussions on there about this very topic and folk are saying that EE are very expensive with regular price rises at every turn.

You are free to choose whoever you wish, obviously with the provisio that they offer a service in your postcode.

If you are out of contract, you don't need to speak to Plusnet at all, you only need to contact the provider you want to swap to and they will arrange the switch, providing they also use Openreach.

 

[Rekusu]

Thanks; I know I'm not tied to EE. I have not actually investigated alternatives, but it is my suspicion that any other company would hencounter the same fibre installation issue.

t sounds like weasel words but the guy from the EE Executive Complaints Dept who has 'taken ownership' of my problem described it thus. Apparently, every house/connection has a unique ID number (not the IP address) but something related to Openreach/BT ownership of the line. EE are apparently placing a fibre order using the number they have, which relates to my address, but when Openreach run checks, that number is not the same as OR have in their database. The result is that OR reject the order.
One would think it is easy to correct but apparently not.
I did ask him about another ISP and his response was that most likely, the ISP would have a number that would still be different to the OR number.
Until the high powered computers at OR sort this out, I am kinda trapped in an fibre connection doom loop.