Hi,
So, I'm not using 2.5Gbit, but I can answer your questions due to my professional networking background and current setup etc.
Does anyone know what the max cable length is for Cat5e or Cat6 using 1Gb or 2.5Gb? I'm guessing it's shorter for 2.5.
The maximum length for Cat5e is 100 Meters between each device (that means the length of patch cable from the network switch-port at each end where the frames are generated/received). This applies to 1Gbit and 2.5Gbit, as the frequency of the signal timing has been lowered to allow 2.5Gbit to operate within the constraints of the Cat5e standard.
It's worth noting that actually, the specification for the physical distance of the cabling is the same pretty much throughout the range of Cat5/5e/6/6a cabling, what matters most is the timing speed of the connection you wish to push over the cabling - that is what dictates the shorter lengths e.g. "55mtr at 10Gbit over Cat6" instead of "100mtr at 1Gbit over Cat6".
Also please note before someone else tells you that they have "run 500mtr cat5e and it works", that I'm giving you the actual certified specification restrictions and advice. There is leeway of course, but if you abuse that too much then it causes a world of pain for troubleshooting the issue should you start to experience "not what you expected" in terms of speed, throughput or latency. Start with the base specs and work up (a bit like overclocking), rather than spending time and effort putting in something that exceeds them wildly, fails, and forces you to backtrack at cost of time, effort and materials.
And what's the difference between 5e and 6 for length and speed?
The difference between Cat5e and Cat6 is the frequency it can handle - 100Mhz for Cat5e vs 250Mhz for Cat6 - the physical distance is still 100mtrs [officially], though you may/will get different performance depending on the quality of the termination, the operating temperature (as you are thinking of running it outside) and the quality of the equipment on each end of the cable length.
Because of the higher integrity of the Cat6 standard, it was originally designed to support the full 100mtr length at 1Gbit line speed, with the additional benefit that it could then support up-to 10Gbit of line speed, albeit at the shortened distance of 55mtrs to cope for the additional timing required along the wire for 10Gbit.
Cat6a introduced a much higher integrity within the cable specification and, when shielded, allowed a reliable 10Gbit signal across the full 100mtrs due to it's handling of 500mhz across the cable which doubled the capability of Cat6.
I'm having a garden office built this month and will need to run an Ethernet cable down to it when I lay the electric cable. It's about 50m from the house, so I'm guessing 60m total cable length so run it through to the switch and router.
It will generally be fine to do what you are proposing over 60mtrs, however there are some points to take care of:
1) Make sure to keep the data cabling and the electrical cabling physically separate by at least 12 inches. This is especially true if you are using unshielded Cat5e/Cat6/Cat6a cabling alongside the electrical cable. It's not that it "won't work at all", but the EMI interference does affect the signal timing of data over the Cat5e/6/6a cabling, and as you are attempting to run at high speeds over a long distance, you don't want the hassle of having to re-lay the cable again or fix the problem later. Make sure it's:
a) Physically separated from the Electrical cabling by 12 inches for non-shielded cabling or 6 inches for shielded cabling (basically run it down it's own conduit as preference if possible).
b) If you have to have it near the Electrical cabling e.g. down the same conduit, use shielded cabling such as FTP cabling AND then make sure you are using shielded termination ports at each end with the foil shield correctly terminated, AND using shielded patch cabling between each client device network interface card [NIC] and the infrastructure cabling/switch/patch panel.
c) Make sure the cabling is contained within a dry conduit that can ideally withstand a shovel hitting it - or route it away from any future disruption in the garden.
2) Make sure that you utilise Solid core cabling for your infrastructure cabling, not Stranded core which is more flexible and meant for patch-cables. Stranded core will not cope well with being outside and subject to the extreme temperatures, and will eventually degrade causing packet-loss and eventual failure. When using Solid Core, also remember the following:
a) Solid core cabling is less flexible, and therefore has a much more restrictive "Bend Radius" than Stranded core. Therefore be careful to ensure the cabling is at least "four times" the outer-diameter of the cable. Any tighter than that and you risk breaking a strand of solid core and will have to replace the cable. A repair may be technically possible but because you are hoping to rely on the signal-carrying capability of the cabling for high-speed and futureproofing, a broken cable is only going to make matters worse.
b) Always run more cabling than you need. If you think you need 1 or 2 ports/lengths of cabling, then run 4-6. This both gives you a level of resilience in case a cable does break in the future despite best efforts above, meaning you don't then have to dig up the whole garden to get things running again, as well as giving the futureproofing you need for any expansion of the network or aggregation of links for future technologies. The extra expense now is nothing compared to the hassle and expense to fix the issue later if you only run a single/double cable.
c) Make sure you have some spare run-off cabling to allow for the cable-routing within each end without "pulling" tightly on the ports/clients. A few meters won't affect the distance restrictions of the cabling as long as it's done correctly as per above.
3) Don't have the electrical engineer terminate the networking connections for you unless they are certified and know what they are doing regarding networking cable standards. Having a "sparky" use a screwdriver to ram the Cat6 cabling into a jumper is not going to cut it and will really annoy you when you find out that you've paid for nothing as you have to re-terminate it properly afterwards. If they don't know what an IDC punch-down tool is, and how to use it, then either get someone else or learn and do it yourself to get the job done properly.
4) Make sure to thoroughly test the cable termination before you fill the hole back in..... nothing worse than finding out the cable isn't right and you need to get the shovel out again. Don't just rely on a network-connection tester (but use it also) - make sure that additionally, you use a client at each end to both measure the latency and packet-loss by sending large packets e.g. a large file transfer over each connection you run. It's no good "pinging" each end at 64bytes of packet size, only to find it drops packets when under heavy load.
My plan would be to have an access point in the office to provide wifi, altogether does anyone know if the BT range extender discs can use their ethernet port to receive data and broadcast it? Would need wifi for laptop, tablet, Sonos speakers etc And also a network switch for a Sky mini box, tv, computer and printer.
I don't know the capabilities of the BT range extender product but I do know Wi-Fi deployments and architecture however, and would recommend that after all that effort to put in physical cabling into your office, you have a switch and use physical cabling to the clients wherever possible. Only use your Wi-Fi beacon (however you deploy it whether it's an extender or a new hotspot/beacon device) for the traffic you are prepared to have disrupted e.g. iPad/Mobile/Printer.
Also, always remember that an "Extender" can reduce throughput by up to half, as it needs to "repeat" the signal from the original Wi-Fi router to the new beacon it's distributing. However, as you say, if you can plug the extender in directly to the Cat6 and use it as a beacon, this issue goes away as long as it's using the Cat6 to communicate back to the router, and not the WiFi.
Hope this helps.
