How Many Wires Are in an Ethernet Cord

cat5cat6ethernet

Bought a spool of wire for networking. Ran it a long distance and thought we could hook up the wires to a plug at the end (not sure how to describe this).

However the spool of cord/wire we bought is only 6 wires while an ethernet plug is 8.

Can we only leave 2 out?

Thanks!

Best Answer

Networking wire isn't just any old spool of wire. It's rated for the frequencies of the signal going down it (CAT3 for regular phones or 10Mbs Ethernet; CAT5 for 100Mbs Ethernet; CAT5e, CAT6 for 1000Mbs Ethernet), there are pairs of wire twisted in certain ways to reduce the cross-talk between wires, there may be shielding to reduce noise from outside, etc.

It sounds like you're trying to run networking over a random spool of wire. Don't do that.

Related Solutions

Linux – Ethernet Loopback plug – running a ping

For sure :)

# ip address list dev eth0
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:1e:4f:9b:4a:ab brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.10.141.83/24 brd 10.10.141.255 scope global eth0
    inet6 fe80::21e:4fff:fe9b:4aab/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
# ip address add 10.10.141.253/24 dev eth0
# ip address list dev eth0
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:1e:4f:9b:4a:ab brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.10.141.83/24 brd 10.10.141.255 scope global eth0
    inet 10.10.141.253/24 scope global eth0
    inet6 fe80::21e:4fff:fe9b:4aab/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
# ping -I 10.10.141.83 10.10.141.253
PING 10.10.141.253 (10.10.141.253) from 10.10.141.83 : 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.10.141.253: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.050 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.141.253: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.034 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.141.253: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.038 ms
^C
--- 10.10.141.253 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 1999ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.034/0.040/0.050/0.010 ms
# ip address delete 10.10.141.253/24 dev eth0
# ping -I 10.10.141.83 10.10.141.253
PING 10.10.141.253 (10.10.141.253) from 10.10.141.83 : 56(84) bytes of data.
From 10.10.141.83 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 10.10.141.83 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 10.10.141.83 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable
^C
--- 10.10.141.253 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 3016ms

Actually dead simple. :) (Just kidding, it's always simple if you already know it)

I'm not sure L2 would really work but with ip neigh you can should be able to modify the arp cache also (so much for dead simple)

Cat5 vs Cat5e – What is the Actual Difference?

I believe that the difference between 5 and 5e is a more specific description of the twists per pair and twists per foot of each pair.

Cat5a and Cat6 further enforce the geometry of the pairs relative to each-other over the course of the entire cable and restrict the untwisted amount at the ends.

In practice, if it says Cat5, it is an old cable. "Cat5" hasn't been made in years, and any twisted pair cable suitable for use in networking (ie not cat3 or something used for a thermostat or lawn sprinklers) will be a Cat5e or better.

A true Cat5 installation is sufficient for gigabit ethernet. I've seen plenty of things labeled cat5 that are not actually up to spec for one reason or another, that run 100mb fine but don't work with gig.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Linux – Ethernet Loopback plug – running a ping

Cat5 vs Cat5e – What is the Actual Difference?

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