![]() Now, to be clear, with two 10GBe devices you can get 10GB transfer over just Cat5e, you just won’t get it over as long a distance. This manifests in that where, within an RJ45 connector, Cat5e cable has all 8 internal wires in a line, Cat6 and Cat6a have this staggered format.Ĭat5 and 5e has the internal wires in the connector straightĬat6 and up cable is fatter so need the staggered internal layoutīecause those cables are specified thicker, 23AWG, or American Wire Gauge in the case of 6A you get a better signal, which means faster sustained data speeds, and with 6a, the insulation around each twisted pair of wires means faster transfer over longer distances too. It’s both thicker, and in the case of Cat6a, each twisted pair is individually shielded too. However, crucially, the cable itself differs. ![]() Both Cat6 and Cat6a use the same, physical, RJ45 connector as Cat5e. I blame Jony Ive!Ĭat5e is the ‘normal’ Ethernet cable you will be used to. I say ‘direct’ but as my work machine is a Macbook ‘Pro’ so I need about 15 dongles hanging out of the arse of it to connect it to something as exotic as an Ethernet cable. So in my home office I have my work and personal machines connected direct to the Ethernet. If you are going through the hell that is running cable around your house you may as well have two ports on each drop. So that means for each network port on the wall I needed two lengths of cable, so I could have two ports. I needed enough cable to do 3 lots of 2 drops. There you go, you can skip ahead to the next bit now. Alternatively, you could always wire your house ready for 10GBe and stick a standard 1GB switch in for now, and upgrade to a 10GBe switch when prices come down, as a standard 1GB switch will work fine with 10GBe capable wiring. Looks ridiculous but a semi affordable 10GB capable switchĮxpect to pay a lot more for a 10GBe switch than a 1GB. I paid £125 for a Netgear Nighthawk which is a frankly ridiculous looking thing, more like a miniature stealth bomber than a network switch but it was the cheapest I could find with a couple of 10GBe ports built in (the remaining ports are all standard 1 Gig). Right now, there are hardly any affordable network switches that support 10GBe. Let’s look at the main hardware and then the details of network testers, crimping tools and all the things needed to piece it together. So with some need established, how do we get on and make this 10GB Ethernet happen? Primarily, you’ll need the right switch, cables and connectors. Now, you will have your own reasons for why you want 10GBe, they were mine. So, I wanted a 10GBe NAS so it would have fast enough access for video files over that network. ![]() Then, instead of a USB or Thunderbolt device, I wanted a NAS so it can live anywhere on the home network, so others can use it and I can have something like Node running locally on it for development experiments. This led me looking at RAID capable backup devices. Plus I needed a way to back the videos up – and a single external drive is too risky. So why bother with 10GBe? Well, I’m creating a lot of video content (YouTube, courses) at the moment, and frequently uploading 2GB video files over WiFi isn’t ideal. Now, that latency problem can be solved with standard 1Gb Ethernet. Plus the network speed all but vanished as soon as there was noise on the power, like a tumble dryer or washing machine for example. Sure, they are OK in a pinch, and if you only need a couple, but I needed a minimum of 4 Ethernet points around the house and the Powerline adapters started to get really flakey with that many. These plugs you stick in the wall that can carry network data over the power cables. Now, I know what you’re thinking Powerline adapters. It annoyed me constantly, every single time I click a link in the browser, that slight delay bugs me. Most would say that’s not worth worrying about. That’s 40ms better on average than with WiFi. Here is the comparison numbers for me pinging google using WiFi: WiFi is always at least 40-50ms slowerĪnd here are the numbers with Ethernet: Bask in the joy of super low latency cable connections Primarily, this was about latency, and to a lesser extent, dependability. I’ve already put a Tenda mesh WiFi around the house which means you can get WiFi everywhere. ![]() Many people I spoke to about this before I started thought I was nuts. Want to watch the video version of this? It’s on my YouTube channel. The good news is I learnt lots along the way, and I’m here to save you from making any of those mistakes too! I’m thrilled it’s done because I hated doing it and I made loads of mistakes. About 2 weeks ago I made the decision to add wired, 10GB, Ethernet into my home.
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