AntBlog701: more cat.6 and Gaffa tape

16 August, 2008

more cat.6 and Gaffa tape

After getting my first Cat 6 Ethernet cable in mid April, I got myself three more cat.6 cables about 5 weeks ago. They are 30 metres, 15 metres and 2 metres ones. The reason I need a 30-metre long Cat 6 cable is that from my room to the living room is about 20 metre in distance, and I need extra length for fixing them along the edges and corners, as well as some extra length for additional freedom on placing (or relocating) the routers.

Well, I've been busy with a few thing, and that was why it took me a while to finally putting the 30-metre Cat 6 ethernet cable in place. I wanted to link my Time Capsule (blog entry) and AirPort Extreme Base Station (Gigabit version) (blog entry) with an ethernet cable (called a roaming network) instead of linking them wirelessly (also known as Wireless Distribution System (WDS)). I will discuss more on roaming network and WDS more and the reason I decided to change from WDS to roaming network within next few days.

(more photo follow... )

And how do I fix Cat 6 cable along the edges and corners? I used Gaffa Cloth Tape which is Don's beloved duct tape. (The duct tape in Australia do not generally have cloth in it.) The Gaffa Cloth Tape is not cheap in Australia. One 10-metra Gaffa Cloth Tape (as shown in picture below) costs around AU$7.99.

Taping the cable in straight line is not that challenging, but straighten the 30-metre Cat 6 ethernet cable (from the roll) seems to be a bit time consuming. From the photo on the right, you can see two cables actually. The black one is coaxial cable for television signal from roof antenna to the EyeTV Diversity in my room. That one I have typed the cable a while back. That along used one 10-metre Gaffa Cloth Tape. The Cat 6 ethernet cable from my room (Time Capsule) to living room (new location for AirPort Extreme Base Station) required another 10-metre Gaffa Cloth Tape.

That was what I did this afternoon.

As discussed in the April entry, most Cat 5e cables can do Gigabit ethernet speed. But since Cat 6 is merely $1 to $3 more than Cat 5e, why not getting Cat 6 which is rated for Cat 6 instead.

I know taping cables on the floor is not very professional, but that's easiest way I can do. And I have to thank Don for introducing duct tape to me recently, although it is quite expensive here. So once again, Don, I am poor.

This entry has Lightbox effect enabled. Click on the thumbnails for larger photos.

related blog entries:
I got my a cat 6, finally (17 April, 2008)
Time Capsule (1TB) has arrived (4 April, 2008)
AirPort Extreme Base Station (8 December, 2007)

Posted by Antony on 16 August 2008 11:52 PM | Mac hardware, all things Mac, photos

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comments

That's actually not so bad an idea. I have a 100-foot Cat5 cable for Ethernet and a 75-foot 4wire cable for phone. I managed to keep those in place by winding the two cables together, tucking them behind furniture where available, and using thumbtacks to make sure they stay above door and window sills. I did the same with a 15-foot coaxial cable for TV, though that comes from a window in the same room instead of the hallway.

It seems like the 75-foot phone cord is a perfect length for what I need. I keep the extra 25 feet of the Cat5 cable wrapped around a can next to the router.

BTW, I'm poor. I don't have Cat5e or Cat6, just plain old Cat5 and Cat3.
Posted by Don_HH2K on 17 August 2008 4:58 PM.

Forgot to mention, if you look at the third picture carefully, you can see the Gaffa Cloth Tape use on the right side of the corridor in further section (between my room and upstairs kitchen). It is a Cat 5 ethernet cable connection from Time Capsule to the Laser printer in the upstairs kitchen (my coffee space actually).
My telephone cord from downstairs to upstairs (my room) for ADSL is actually Cat 5 cable. But only 4 wires were used, as I asked the guy.
Posted by Antony Shen on 17 August 2008 10:32 PM.

And here I thought you hated "the look" of cloth tape enough to never use it. I've seen people using Cat5 for their phones lately. My only thought is that Cat5 allows for a higher-quality DSL connection; I doubt that using twisted pair for very-low-bandwidth voice like telephone service would make that much of a difference in signal quality.
Posted by Don_HH2K on 18 August 2008 12:40 AM.

I still don't use anywhere as extensive as you do with duct tape. The price simply forbids me doing so.
My use of it (mainly for typing cables/wires) is simply that I couldn't think of a cheaper alternative. (I do bought some cable covers, if you want to know.)
As for my telephone line (landline), please refer to telephone socket reloacting - on the move, part 3 (4 May 2007). They actually used Cat 5e not Cat 5.
Posted by Antony Shen on 18 August 2008 2:56 AM.

I notice your cables were China made, can't you find any Aussie made cables? The tape? Where was that made? I think you may be a closet Communist comrade Antony?

Posted by Rev. Dr. Wu Yi on 18 August 2008 4:35 PM.

Well, "made in China" does not necessary mean "low quality". Although many arrogant white native English speakers enjoy connecting the two.
Certainly, not the overpriced Aussie made Cat 6 cables.
Posted by Antony Shen on 19 August 2008 2:01 PM.

more cat.6 and Gaffa tapefrom AntBlog701

16 August, 2008

more cat.6 and Gaffa tape

more cat.6 and Gaffa tape
from AntBlog701