WiFi Q for Web Wizards

Thank you all for helpful and actionable ideas.  I’ve now got twice the bandwidth in the house that we had before, 6x in the garage loft where I hang out, and 20x in the cabin (which sucked before) where two college students will attend their Fall Semester.

To perhaps return the favor, this was the most helpful video I found for how to terminate Cat-5 cables.  I wasn’t getting it right in my first attempts (I’d even RTFM’d the package instructions), but once I watched this, all my cables have

worked.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZKVPuInQ2Y

Many of you probably already know all of it, but it might prevent you from getting drafted as a cable technician by others if you can just refer them to this how-to video.

It reminds me of how I learned and how I teach soldering copper pipes – pretty detailed and a bit tedious and you *might* get away with sloppier technique, but I NEVER have leaks and that’s worth it.

MYOG Tip: Now that I have the crimper tool, most of a box of 50 RJ45 connectors, and good technique; there’s no reason to buy Ethernet cables from the store. Cat-5E cable is cheap and I’ve always had lots of it around.

Overall a very good video on cable construction. Just skip the incorrect technobabble until the 1:20 mark – made me doubt the rest of the video, but electricians are not network engineers, so we can let that pass.

Be very careful scoring and stripping the outer jacket as he describes. You don’t even want to nick the inner, skinny, paired wires. Just use a proper stripping tool if you don’t have the magic touch.

Used to build my own cables at work. Quickly concluded I had better things to do, and bought pre-built cables (try Monoprice) or outsourced. But if you like DIY, go for it.

At home, you’ll never need more than Gigabit Ethernet, so save your money and buy skinner, far more flexible Cat 5E cables. Wash your hands after handling lots of cable, the plastic sheath contains chemicals you don’t want to absorb.

And the standard says maximum cable run is 100 meters, or 90 meters jack-to-jack for stuff installed inside walls and between buildings. In practice, you can push that, but don’t push too far. If you need to go a lot farther, you can buy small booster boxes that run at somewhat lower speeds. BTDT a few times.

I’ve also gotten away with shallow direct cable burials and aerial runs not approved by cable makers. Just be prepared to troubleshoot that cable when you have problems, and re-install if water gets in or varmints start chewing.

Obligatory BPL content: I’ve never had a reason to take an Ethernet cable backpacking. Whitewater rafting is another story.

— Rex

I think you’re crazy not to carry ethernet cable in the wilderness. You never know when you’re going to come across a tree with an embedded ethernet jack.