Curse

kazi_saki · Oct 14, 2008, 01:46 PM // 13:46

Hey,

I just saw some branded LAN cables and it said stuff like super-fast and gigaspeed and other marketing stuff and the wires itself look very sturdy and thick and nice. Is there any difference, regarding connection speed, with this and with the standard LAN cables that come with your router? Would it really make it any faster?

er...are they called LAN cables or ethernet cables, or are they synonymous?

Snograt · Oct 14, 2008, 01:50 PM // 13:50

Synonymous.

Nice word, makes a change from "you know, liek the same thing, yeah?"

Connecting to the internet via router - doesn't really matter what you use. Bog standard cat5e. The higher rated stuff is for connecting to internal networks where massive files are being transferred, streaming video - that sort of stuff. You can't speed up the internet by using better cable.

Kattar · Oct 14, 2008, 01:53 PM // 13:53

Standard 5e is fine, as Snoggy said. Cat 6 is good, but there's really no need for it on a home network.

kazi_saki · Oct 14, 2008, 01:57 PM // 13:57

aw. And I was hoping for a quick fix to speed it up, even marginally

Thanx for the very quick replies guys! Now I don't have to shell out money again!

Quaker · Oct 14, 2008, 03:27 PM // 15:27

You would want the better cables for a 1GigaHz network. Most home networks are just 10/100 Mhz though, so bog standard cables are fine. (I think the standard cables also work with GigaHz networks, but only for shorter runs, and they may be noisier and more subject to errors.)