Upgrade modem-to-router cable from CAT 5e to CAT 6 or 6a?

[gogreen1]

I have two LANs in my house--CenturyLink and Comcast. With both networks, I connect the routers and modems with CAT 5e ethernet cables. Would it make a difference in upload and download speeds if I upgrade both connections to CAT 6 or 6a cable (only those items connected via wifi)?

 

[waw74]

how long are these cables? guessing under 10 feet

how fast of a connection are you paying for? guessing gigabit at best

if everything is connected to those routers via wifi, then the wifi is probably the slowest part of the link.



assuming those 3 things are true, then you won't see any improvement, (also assuming your existing cables are in good working order)

 

[VaZ]

If you're after 1 Gigabit speeds then NO. 125MB/sec would be max on all those types.
Heck i use older Cat 5 across the house and still hit those speeds

 

[eyoungren]

CAT 5e (but not CAT 5) can handle Gigabit at it's extreme, but its not optimal for it. You really should replace with CAT 6 if you're looking for Gig-E speeds. Otherwise, you're fine at slower speeds with CAT 5e.

 

[Fishrrman]

My house was built around 1911, with plaster walls over wooden lathing -- which would be A LOT of work to get cabling through.

So...when I put in ethernet cabling between the upstairs and downstairs back in 2010, I did it "the hillbilly way" -- I just ran it along the floor and over the door casings, right out in the open.

I bought a long (75' or so) pre-built ethernet cable which I think is Cat 5 (no markings on it). It might have been "5e"... I just don't remember.

I originally used it with a Comcast cable modem downstairs to get ethernet to my Mac desktops upstairs. About 18 months ago I switched from cable to Frontier fiber (1gb service).

As I composed this, I just used the "SpeedTest" app to check the speed of my connection over the old Cat 5. It gave me downloads of 945 and uploads of 940, which is (to my knowledge) approaching "the practical limit" of what my LAN equipment can provide (all devices max out at "1gb").

So... even if it's "only" Cat 5... it still may give you pretty good speeds.

 

[gogreen1]

Thanks, all, for the information. I'm paying Comcast for speeds up to 800 but Speedtest.net shows speeds consistently around 100-120/40. How can I improve these speeds? My router is about a year old--Asus RT-AX88u Pro.

 

[eyoungren]

Thanks, all, for the information. I'm paying Comcast for speeds up to 800 but Speedtest.net shows speeds consistently around 100-120/40. How can I improve these speeds? My router is about a year old--Asus RT-AX88u Pro.View attachment 2502300

Between the device you are running the speedtest on and your router, are there any hubs or switches? If there are, are these Fast Ethernet or Gigabit-Ethernet? Fast Ethernet tops out at 100. Your speed is limited if your connection goes through any of those.

Also might want to try the website fast.com. It does not have as much overhead to account for as speedtest.net and the speedtest app do.

 

[gogreen1]

Thanks, eyoungren. No hubs or switches. Just the cable coming into the house to the modem and then the tether (CAT 6a cable, 3 feet) to my router.

 

[DeltaMac]

So, all the devices use wifi, and you don't use ethernet from the router at all?

 

[gogreen1]

So, all the devices use wifi, and you don't use ethernet from the router at all?

Yes.

 

[eyoungren]

Yes.

If every device is using WiFi and not ethernet, then the problem isn't the ethernet cable. Your router is getting the full speed.

Your limitation is the speed of your WiFi.

And that's why almost every device in my house is hooked up via an ethernet cable and not WiFi. I pay my ISP for Gigabit speeds. And I have a Gigabit home network. I'm not going to lose out because WiFi is slower than ethernet.

 

[BrianBaughn]

You should connect a device directly to the modem via ethernet to see what speed you're actually getting.

Also, if you're going to get a new ethernet cable it might as well be a Cat 8.

 

[Fishrrman]

Brian has a good recommendation.

Do you have a Mac with an ethernet port?
If so, plug it directly into the back of the router.
THEN use the Speedtest app to check download/upload speeds.

If they give you a BIG improvement over wifi, then it's time to start figuring out what's wrong with your wifi connections...

 

[dz5b609]

If you're after 1 Gigabit speeds then NO. 125MB/sec would be max on all those types.
Heck i use older Cat 5 across the house and still hit those speeds

This is just not true, all those cables can quite easily handle gigabit with 5e being the only one of those that MIGHT not get gigabit speed if it's a really long bad quality cable.

 

[VaZ]

This is just not true, all those cables can quite easily handle gigabit with 5e being the only one of those that MIGHT not get gigabit speed if it's a really long bad quality cable.

? Ok then i'm lying ..

 

[gogreen1]

Brian has a good recommendation.

Do you have a Mac with an ethernet port?
If so, plug it directly into the back of the router.
THEN use the Speedtest app to check download/upload speeds.

If they give you a BIG improvement over wifi, then it's time to start figuring out what's wrong with your wifi connections...

Thanks, Brian and Fishrrman.

Talk about improvement! With a direct ethernet connection, I got 743.49 download and 41.65 upload. The load is pretty much the same, but the download is astronomically better than the 80-125Mbps I get on wifi.

I've relocated the router to a more central location--it's in a small room mounted on a wall now. My router is an Asus RT-AX88u Pro with a strong signal everywhere in my (one-story) house. It would take a lot of climbing around the roof rafters and running ethernet cable to wire everything, so that's not possible.

So if the problem is my wifi connection, any suggestions on how to speed it up?

 

[BrianBaughn]

I have an RT-AX58U which has similar and certainly not better specs than the RT-AX88U. I have a multi-story house…nearly 100 years old…made out of strong old wood on the inside. I get much better speed than you through two floors.

Unless your router is malfunctioning (unlikely) this would lead me to believe that there's something about the physical makeup of your house that's impeding your signal.

 

[gogreen1]

My single-story house was built with metal studs and concrete block. That’s probably the problem.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Your Asus router can be combined with other AiMesh node mode compatible Asus routers to form a mesh. I don't have any experience with how well it all works. I imagine that if if it's the case you can't get decent wifi speed with just one wall between the router and a computer then a mesh isn't going to help much.

 

[gogreen1]

Your Asus router can be combined with other AiMesh node mode compatible Asus routers to form a mesh. I don't have any experience with how well it all works. I imagine that if if it's the case you can't get decent wifi speed with just one wall between the router and a computer then a mesh isn't going to help much.

I certainly have the routers for an aimesh system--my old RT-AX86u and my RT-AC86u! But the only way I can run these aimesh nodes is with wifi. And given my current wifi speeds, wouldn't an aimesh system be moot?

I'm thinking that if I really want foster speed, the only way to get it is to run ethernet cable.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Ethernet would be great. Options depend on your situation. If you above-ceiling area is wide open and you can get a good signal through your ceiling to the rooms below you could run a mesh network up there.

 

[chown33]

How many of your devices are on your Wifi at once?

Wifi is a shared protocol. That means all the devices share time on a single radio channel. When any device is transferring data, the others aren't. The router mediates who uses the wifi channel and when.

It could also be that someone else near you is using the same wifi channel you are. That would appear to you as interference (unwanted signal), and further degrade your use of that channel.

What does Wireless Diagnostics say about other WLANs on your wifi channel, devices, etc.

Use Wireless Diagnostics on your Mac

Use Wireless Diagnostics on your Mac to help resolve Wi-Fi issues, and learn about Wi-Fi best practices.

support.apple.com

 

[drrich2]

You should connect a device directly to the modem via ethernet to see what speed you're actually getting.

Talk about improvement! With a direct ethernet connection, I got 743.49 download and 41.65 upload. The load is pretty much the same, but the download is astronomically better than the 80-125Mbps I get on wifi.

So if the problem is my wifi connection, any suggestions on how to speed it up?

How old is your modem?

Here's why I ask. Like you, I had lackluster wifi speeds, so I hooked my old 2017 12" MacBook directly to my old Netgear cable modem/router combo. via ethernet cable and got way better speeds. Did a little digging online; that was a couple of years ago so I don't recall all the details, but IIRC, such equipment can get old and sometimes less effective.

So I bought a new Motorola cable modem and TP-Link router, and my wifi speeds jumped way up. Under 1800 square foot house, between 15 and 20 years old so fairly new construction, un-congested suburban location so not a lot of interference.

Here's an interesting test to try...measure your wifi speed when the computer and your router are in the same room without intervening walls.

My single-story house was built with metal studs and concrete block. That’s probably the problem.

How is cell phone reception in your home? I know it's not the same, but do cell signals penetrate your construction okay?

I'm thinking that if I really want foster speed, the only way to get it is to run ethernet cable.

Even if that's true, the question remains...how much cable? Someone might see that and think 'Oh, I need to the cable across the floors, under rugs, etc... Another person might think 'Oh, I to hire somebody to run a cable through an outlet, up the wall to the attic, across and then down a wall into the other room...

Or...if your walls are serious wifi diminishing barriers...maybe take 2 mesh routers, one in the room with your modem, the other in an adjacent room, so you only need drill a hole through that one wall and run the cable through it, from router-to-router, and the receiving router can then broadcast wifi signal in that other room.

I don't know your home layout, or how many rooms you are trying to get good wifi to.

Where I'm going with all this is to try to pin down whether it's your router, your walls or both that are impairing your wifi signal.

 

[gogreen1]

How is cell phone reception in your home? I know it's not the same, but do cell signals penetrate your construction okay?

Cell reception is fine in our home. We have Verizon, but those who have other carriers cannot connect in the house.

It's a good idea to put the router up high in the attic, but not where I live--temps in the attic often reach well above 100 degrees and stay that way for prolonged periods. In addition, the humidity here eventually destroys everything.

Our throughput isn't super fast, but it is adequate for our needs. And, as I mentioned, I did relocate the router, and that has made a noticeable difference. So after looking into the possibilities, I think I'll leave things the way they are--for now.

Thanks, chown33, for the Wireless Diagnostics idea.

And thanks, all, for the excellent suggestions and for sticking with me on this.

 

[Fishrrman]

My opinion only, but that's the wrong place for a router.
(it's in what looks to be a closet, right?)

Seems to me that it should be right out in the open, not next to the wall, in a central room.