A new network cable

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quickymart

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#306062 25-Jun-2023 10:56

I've got a 3 metre ethernet cable running from my Spark Smart router to my desktop machine, but while it says it's CAT6 I'm only getting 100Mb/s down, yet my plan is 300 down/100 up.

Any devices connecting on wifi get the full 300.

Tested with a borrowed cable and got 300 over ethernet, so the cable has probably done its dash. I was going to get a Dynamix from PB Tech but they don't seem to have a huge range of them anymore, so I was looking at this instead: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/CABSTT2865517/StarTech-N6PATC3MGN-3m-CAT6-Ethernet-Cable---Green

Anyone had any experience with this brand? Are they any good?

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#3094651 25-Jun-2023 11:28

PBTech have got pretty much the entire Dynamix range - just about every colour you could need

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/search?sf=dynamix+cat6+3m&search_type=

quickymart

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#3094661 25-Jun-2023 12:05

You must be better at setting filters than me 😀

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/CABDNX0122/Dynamix-3m-Cat6-Green-UTP-Patch-Lead-T568A-Specifi >> possible dumb question, but would this one support 1Gb/s? The specs don't say a lot...

Wombat1

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#3094662 25-Jun-2023 12:07

Even all certified cat 5 cables will support 1gbps at that length. Check your port settings, probably get set to 100mbps.

quickymart

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#3094665 25-Jun-2023 12:15

Nope, tried that and it's set to Automatic - plus I tried a different cable in the same ports and that gave me 300, so I've determined it must be the cable.

RunningMan

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#3094667 25-Jun-2023 12:18

quickymart:

You must be better at setting filters than me 😀

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/CABDNX0122/Dynamix-3m-Cat6-Green-UTP-Patch-Lead-T568A-Specifi >> possible dumb question, but would this one support 1Gb/s? The specs don't say a lot...

I was looking for the same thing yesterday, so knew the right search terms!

That will be fine for 1Gb/s. Overkill because Cat 5e would also work, but fine because it's easily available.

allan

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#3094713 25-Jun-2023 14:47

quickymart:

Nope, tried that and it's set to Automatic - plus I tried a different cable in the same ports and that gave me 300, so I've determined it must be the cable.

Can you force the port to 1Gb? I've seen odd things with automatic negotiation sometimes.

robjg63

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#3094718 25-Jun-2023 14:58

If its cutting at 100Mpbs I would expect its the network card.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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quickymart

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#3094720 25-Jun-2023 15:20

robjg63:

If its cutting at 100Mpbs I would expect its the network card.

Same network card and different cable (see above) gives me 300Mb/s. I'm 100% sure it's the cable.

Network card set to Auto Negotiation:

I tried the "1.0Gbps..." option at the top to no avail. Using the same borrowed cable and not changing the settings shown above I'm still getting 300.

Thanks for the suggestion though 🙂

Wombat1

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#3094744 25-Jun-2023 15:58

quickymart:
Nope, tried that and it's set to Automatic - plus I tried a different cable in the same ports and that gave me 300, so I've determined it must be the cable.

Odd that you getting exactly 100Mb/s down, that sounds like a port setting and the pc must be incorrectly setting it. Have you tried a different pc?

quickymart

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#3094745 25-Jun-2023 16:01

No, I don't have another PC to try it on - but if it was the port why would a different cable (in the same ports) give a speed of 300?

Wombat1

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#3094749 25-Jun-2023 16:14

Not sure. Maybe the port is not correctly identifying the one type of cable you have used.

msukiwi

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#3094755 25-Jun-2023 16:35

Maybe the faulty cable has a faulty pair? (GB uses 4 pair, 100MB uses 2!)

BlueOwl

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#3094756 25-Jun-2023 16:36

100mbps ethernet requires only 2 pairs of the cable to be connecting - one pair for send and one for receive.

Gigabit requires all 4 pairs to be connected. So I'd say your cable is faulty on one of those wires used for gigabit and not for those needed by 100mbps.

Just get a new Cat5E or Cat6 cable and you'll be fine.

quickymart

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#3094771 25-Jun-2023 17:09

Yep, planning on getting a new cable in the next week or so. Will probably keep this one as a spare or something.

robjg63

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#3094777 25-Jun-2023 17:16

Cable is certainly cheap enough to try and see if it fixes the issue.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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