Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

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Frldyz

Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by Frldyz »

I'm in the process of learning about NAS and will probally one day get a home media NAS.
To store pictures, videos and movies on.

I would like to access these movies to our TV's.

Question:
Does the length of the ethernet cable going from the NAS box to the TV matter?
I would more then likely store my NAS in the basement and would need to run the cable from the basement to the TV on the above level.
Would there be any performance degradation or anything if the cable was maybe 20-30' long?

Does it matter if the cable going into the NAS ( from the router ) and out of to the TV matter?
Cat5, Cat 5E or Cat 6? Would they all perform the same?
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all41
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Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by all41 »

Any signal degradation would be imperceivable at the distance you are needing.
Just use cat6, the cost difference is negligible.
30' patch cables on ebay are 4.25
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Frldyz

Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by Frldyz »

all41 wrote: Sat Jul 21, 2018 4:01 pm Any signal degradation would be imperceivable at the distance you are needing.
Just use cat6, the cost difference is negligible.
30' patch cables on ebay are 4.25
So you're saying a signal from a NAS with a 30' Cat 6 cable to a TV will be just fine?
MintBean

Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by MintBean »

The cable should be suitably certified for the length it is. In other words, you should be able to use any commercially available cable length without issue.
michael louwe

Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by michael louwe »

Fridyz wrote:.
.
Cat5 = 100 meters limit. ... https://itstillworks.com/recommended-et ... 17721.html

Below the limit, the shorter the better as per device location requirements, but not shorter than 1 foot.
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all41
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Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by all41 »

You betcha.
I am using a 75' lan run to one location and 20' to 30' to others and everthing works great.
Try to avoid running parallel in close proximity to house wiring and plumbing. Cross them at right angles
when possible.
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Lord Boltar

Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by Lord Boltar »

Compared with Cat 5 and Cat 5e, Cat 6 features more stringent specifications for cross-talk and system noise. The cable standard also specifies performance of up to 250 MHz compared to 100 MHz for Cat 5 and Cat 5e. Whereas Category 6 cable has a reduced maximum length of 55 meters when used for 10GBASE-T.
When used for 10/100/1000BASE-T, the maximum allowed length of a Cat 6 cable is up to 100 meters (328 ft) same for Cat 5
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Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by phd21 »

Hi Frldyz

Yes, Ethernet signal can degrade over long distances.

IMHO it is always best to get shielded Cat6 (cat6a) Ethernet cables

Amazon.com: cat6 shielded cable
https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no ... lded+cable

What's the maximum length an Ethernet cable can be from a router without losing speed? What can be done if this length needs to be exceeded? - Quora
https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-maximum ... e-exceeded

Does having a longer Ethernet cable slow your connection? - Network Engineering Stack Exchange
https://networkengineering.stackexchang ... connection


Hope this helps ...
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Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by AZgl1800 »

the laws of physics do effect our copper cables.

my internet is DSL, and I am at the "end of the line" for getting a 10mbps connection, and that is only about 8,000 lineal feet through about 10 telephone distribution panels.

at about 20,000 feet, ADSL is all over and done with, you can get 5mbps up to around 15,000 feet, then it drops to around 1.5mbps

after that, you have to go Public WiFi which can cover about 10 miles with varying success, then you go Satellite.
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Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by BG405 »

I've had no problems using long cables except the ones which were chewed by one of my furry friends. In fact one of them must be about 100 feet .. and I have several 30 foot cables connecting various devices on this floor to the old Netgear hub, which links with the main router on the next floor feeding downstairs ethernet branches & supplying the house WiFi. Some of those cables unavoidably run near mains cables & the central heating plumbing.

No noticeable speed losses, but then I'm not using fast ethernet. 100-base-T limitation here due to the network hardware; even this would be perfectly fine for your intended purposes.
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Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by lsemmens »

If I were to take your question literally, The LENGTH will not change regardless of how LONG the cable is, it will always remain at the LENGTH you have installed. :D
As to signal degrading over distance, the answer, is, of course, yes. All cable, depending upon it's cross section can be determined to have resistance measured as so many ohms per metre. The higher resistance (smaller diameter, higher resistance), of course, makes it harder for a signal to get through. Signal does degrade over distance, so, the best chances of a decent signal are always going to be the shortest length of cable. As has already been observed, there are standards that will specify what is "permissible" for length of cables. Other factors to take into account apart from the length of cable will be the quality of the cable, adequate shielding and quality of terminations in each connector.
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Re: Does ethernet cable length degrade over distance?

Post by BG405 »

lsemmens wrote: Tue Jul 24, 2018 4:19 am f I were to take your question literally, The LENGTH will not change regardless of how LONG the cable is, it will always remain at the LENGTH you have installed.
:mrgreen: I managed to resist that. True :lol:

I'd like to add that one of the issues especially prevalent with long cable runs are tight twists/turns (or even knots) in the cable especially when trying to pull them through voids you can't see in to. These can be bad for signal transfer, causing reflections & crosstalk, etc..
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