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Acceptable distance from Nighthawk X4S to unmanaged switch?
hi, Anyone know what is a comfortable cable length that should work from an X4S LAN port to a Netgear FS108 uplink port? My setup is cable modem -> X4S on the second floor of a home. I cannot move the X4S. I'm trying to put an old never-used unmanaged FS108 10/100 Netgear switch behind the X4S. Behind the FS108 I want to attach a wired IP phone and another router. When I put everything in the same room as the X4S with short Ethernet cables it all works. But when I try to use existing cat5E from the 2nd floor X4S to the basement, put the FS108 in the basement, then use other existing cat5E from the basement to other locations it doesn't work. For the IP phone the quality is poor, and the second router fails to connect. Note that I am able to use a pass through cat5E connector in the basement and that works for a single connection to the IP phone, but I can't put the FS108 in that same location. thanks
> [...] Anyone know what is a comfortable cable length that should work
> from an X4S LAN port to a Netgear FS108 uplink port?
100m is the usual limit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_over_twisted_pair
As you've observed, an FS108 is not a gigabit switch, so using it
with an R7800 could add a new bottleneck.
> [...] When I put everything in the same room [...]
If "everything" really means "everything", including all the gizmos,
all connected the same, then I wouldn't expect any less-than-house-size
cables to matter much, unless there's something wrong with the cables or
one of the switches.
> [...] I am able to use a pass through cat5E connector in the basement
> and that works for a single connection to the IP phone, but I can't put
> the FS108 in that same location.
You might try a (cheap) gigabit Ethernet switch instead of the FS108,
if the cables are good.
5 Replies
Your only limited by the max distance that CAT ethernet cabling supports:
http://fourpair.blogspot.com/2005/03/how-far-can-i-run-cat-5e-or-cat-6.html
I recommend CAT6.
thank you, I really appreciate the response and pointer, that was my expectation too but it's within spec and still not working. Without the switch it works fine: modem - X4S (2nd floor) - approx 70' cat5e - passive cat5E coupler (basement) - approx 70' cat5e - IP phone (2nd floor). But if I change the cat5e coupler to the FS108 switch then the IP phone connects but the quality is terrible. I've tested the FS108 with the IP phone in close proximity with short cables and that works fine too. You've given me the idea that I can test the IP phone with the long length upstream or downstream but not both, so I'll try different combinations
I presume there are two issues,
This coupler which I would not use.
Your switch is a 10/100 max speed switch.
https://www.netgear.com/support/product/FS108
While the R7800 is a up to 1000mb speeds on it's LAN ports. So your having a bottle neck of some sorts. You can use a 100Mb switch however its always best to keep same max speeds as your router supports throughout the LAN network if possible. I would only use 100mb switches for printers and older legacy devices.
Gb switch:
