Curse

Winterclaw · Apr 20, 2010, 10:49 PM // 22:49

I'm having problems with my internet. Specifically I have no problem connecting with my laptop wirelessly while at the same time, my wired connection works intermittently. In other words it'll work for a while and then give out for a bit. Someone suggested to me that the CAT5 cable I'm using is going and I need a new one. This person also suggested that I need a network cable and not a patch cable.

So my questions are could a bad cable be the problem and which kind of cable do I need to use?

Elder III · Apr 20, 2010, 11:24 PM // 23:24

you need a generic CAT5 cable (ethernet) and yes a bad cable could be the reason, and is the easiest/cheapest thing to try to fix the problem as well.

Winterclaw · Apr 20, 2010, 11:39 PM // 23:39

I'm glad it's the cheapest solution.

I wanted to use this however I was told it was the wrong thing because it is a patch cable and I need a network cable.

Elder III · Apr 21, 2010, 12:52 AM // 00:52

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_cable

as you can see the term is primarily a reference to the length of the cable.

you can use either cat 5 or cat 6 - the latter is newer and offers more bandwidth, but for nearly any home useage they are equal, get whichever is cheaper.

Lord Sojar · Apr 21, 2010, 02:52 AM // 02:52

CAT6 is also higher quality transmission. I'd highly recommend getting a CAT6 these days, as data integrity is maintained a bit more, thanks to a stricter bill of materials.

Winterclaw · Apr 21, 2010, 04:14 AM // 04:14

Ah, thanks Elder and Rahja. I went with the cat 6 since it was only about 50 cents more or so.