Network cable limiting speed to 100Mb, please help

[F1racer007]

Hi All

Looking for some assistance from the IT Network fundis before i pull my last little hair out.

Deciding whether to upgrade my fibre line to a 200Mb line as the price difference is not that big.

My entire place is cabled using a 300m solid copper Cat 5E cable that i terminated myself (I am no network expert but can atleast do the basics and cables was tested with cable tester and all seemed fine).

The problem i have is that my speeds is currently limited to 100Mb whereas Cat 5E should be able to do 1000Mb.

Plugging the laptop direct with a factory terminated cable i can get more then 100Mb but once plugged into my cable im stuck at 100Mb again.

From some google research it appears that it is either a poor cable, poorly terminated cable or possibly my cable connectors that may only be CAT 5 (I wasnt even sure thats a thing)

Is their any advice for me to fix this, changing all the cables is not ideal as it was done around 2 years ago and its not the easiest solution.

The brand of the cable from the box is CONNECT Networking Solutions and appears to be decent quality.

Advice or suggestions on a fix would be greatly appreciated.

Is it possible i am using CAT 5 connectors that is limiting the overall speed to that of the maximum of the connector?

 

[Areola Grande]

One thing worth checking is what speed NIC the devices have. Both router/switch and the PC/laptop would need faster than 10/100mb NICs in order to take advantage of a faster line. (Not accounting for multiple devices and Wi-Fi usage).

 

[goldfritter]

One thing worth checking is what speed NIC the devices have. Both router/switch and the PC/laptop would need faster than 10/100mb NICs in order to take advantage of a faster line. (Not accounting for multiple devices and Wi-Fi usage).

Looks like when plugging the lappy direct into the router with a different cable it gets full speed.

 

[F1racer007]

Looks like when plugging the lappy direct into the router with a different cable it gets full speed.

Correct, when using the cable i terminated myself though its limited to 100Mb.

Speed test with factory terminated cable, 105 Down and 105 up,
Speed test with my terminated cable, 94 Down and 94 up, direct connection between router and laptop and CPE and laptop no difference at all.

I have isolated the problem to the cable, just not sure if its a bad quality cable, damaged cable (if so then its the entire 300M role), bad cable connector or lastly a CAT 5 connector that is limiting the speed.

 

[F1racer007]

If their are any IT guys in CT that is willing to assist i don't mind bringing a piece of cable to you to terminate and see if i maybe done it incorrectly, I really don't mind the 100Mb as its working fine for my needs but not knowing what is the problem will irritate me daily.

 

[PaladinLaw]

I'm telling you it's the ports, not the cable.

Somewhere you have a 10/100 port.

The 105 you're getting is in my opinion a fluke and not valid enough to say it's the cable.

If you were getting 150 i would think sure, maybe it's the cable.

Google search the make and model of all devices involved, find the 10/100 one, swap it out

 

[F1racer007]

I'm telling you it's the ports, not the cable.

Somewhere you have a 10/100 port.

The 105 you're getting is in my opinion a fluke and not valid enough to say it's the cable.

If you were getting 150 i would think sure, maybe it's the cable.

Google search the make and model of all devices involved, find the 10/100 one, swap it out

Not ruling that out but when plugged directly into the CPE results are the same only with my home made cable then its lower then 105down and up.

Laptop is a HP Zbook Firefly G7 which is a few months old so i doubt its the laptop.

 

[Areola Grande]

How are you connecting the laptop to the router? From the specs online, the laptop doesn't seem to have a LAN port. Are you using a dongle? If so, which one?

 

[∀Z‾soʇɐuɐɥ┴]

One thing to keep in mind that I ran into with a cheap router.
The router might do 'gigabit' but it's half duplex, meaning you basically only get 100/100 speed anyway rather than 1000/100.

 

[Pr3d4t3r]

.

 

[Areola Grande]

My gut feel is this isn't a cable issue but a port issue. The network cable is technically no up to spec, but it's close enough that it should be fine. Perhaps there's a slightly bad crimp or something, but the cable is working at 95% efficiency which says to me that you did a decent job.

 

[F1racer007]

How are you connecting the laptop to the router? From the specs online, the laptop doesn't seem to have a LAN port. Are you using a dongle? If so, which one?

Laptop is connected via a HP USB C mini dock supplied with laptop.

 

[F1racer007]

My gut feel is this isn't a cable issue but a port issue. The network cable is technically no up to spec, but it's close enough that it should be fine. Perhaps there's a slightly bad crimp or something, but the cable is working at 95% efficiency which says to me that you did a decent job.

Its possibly a port issue but when connecting laptop to CPE directly im eliminating all ports and routers etc, the only connection is the USCB C Mini Dock.

Reason i am saying is the cable is because i tested with 3 different pre terminated cables and all gives me the full 105down and 105 up.

Once i use my cable then i am back to 94 down and up. Based on this i dont believe its a port issue.

Tried on my personal laptop now and same results. Laptop is a Zbook 15ug4.

Could it be that its just a poor roll of cable i bought?

 

[Areola Grande]

It's possible the cable isnt good quality.

Either way, you seem to be connecting to a 100mbps port, so it's really making a marginal difference to your general network performance. The number may be higher but I'd be willing to bet you wouldn't notice any difference in performance.

 

[PaladinLaw]

when connecting laptop to CPE directly im eliminating all ports and routers etc, the only connection is the USCB C Mini Dock

Ok......

And have you confirmed that both the CPE and dock have gigabit ports?...

 

[Knoppies999]

You could perhaps take a new cable you've made and connected it too your pc and check what speed you have locally

 

[Knoppies999]

You could perhaps take a new cable you've made and connected it too your pc and check what speed you have locally

 

[F1racer007]

Yep, its a standard Vumatel CPE. Havent checked specs but as they offer upto 1000Mb lines i assume its capable of more then 100Mb.

Checked the specs of the dock and its 1000Mb capable yes,

 

[F1racer007]

Thanks, let me try this quickly. Will report back soon.

 

[PaladinLaw]

Wait, is your actual line speed 100mbps?

Deciding whether to upgrade my fibre line to a 200Mb line

As in, you have not done so yet?

Obviously you won't get more than 100mpbs from cpe to laptop then...

 

[F1racer007]

Checked as per the above video, from that its definitely the cable.

My cable shows 100Mb, all other cables shows 1.0Gb,

Is it possible that the cable connector is the limiting factor here?

 

[F1racer007]

Wait, is your actual line speed 100mbps?


As in, you have not done so yet?

Obviously you won't get more than 100mpbs from cpe to laptop then...

Thats correct yes, see my response above though based on different cables used.

 

[Knoppies999]

Sometimes there's writing on the cables, do they not indicate anything?

 

[F1racer007]

On the cable is the following" Even Flow CAT 5E 4P/24AWG UTP Indoor network cable ANSI/TIA/EIA-568B.1 117M

From the above it does seem to be a CAT 5E cable. Gauge also seem fine. The last matters not sure what that means.

 

[Knoppies999]

Okay so the cable is capable, it seems it's probably a bad connection or bad cable (not sure how common cables go bad and still work)

 

[F1racer007]

I have a few connectors left, going to cut off the pre terminated connections and re-do them with the connections ive got.

If cable shows 100Mb then its either the connections, or i am just not as skilled at this as i think lol.

 

[aiccc]

There are solid core and strand wire cables.

There are also solid core wire terminators and different connectors for stranded wires. Make sure they are the correct ones. Else you get issues

See the gold connector they are different for diff cables

Solid core cables usually go to patch panels

 

[solz]

best is just send us model of your router and dock/laptop

failing switches can also cause this issue.

have used normal jr45 plugs on both stranded and solid core cables no issues, just normally takes bit more to get the stranded in coirrectly in the plug.

 

[F1racer007]

best is just send us model of your router and dock/laptop

failing switches can also cause this issue.

have used normal jr45 plugs on both stranded and solid core cables no issues, just normally takes bit more to get the stranded in coirrectly in the plug.

Exact models below:

- Vumatel grey CPE, cant see model number due to where its mounted.
- HP Firefly G7
- HP Dock model : HSA Q001PR
- Router being bypassed for testing but its a Huawei WS 5200

Thanks for the help thus far all, appreciate the assitance.

Will try some more things tomorrow and report back here.

 

[Yasin]

I had similar issue with less than 30m run. Bit of paint on the connectors turned out to be the culprit. I'd start by cutting connectors and re-terminating. Did you use the through-hole EZ connectors or the regular one's? What class did you end up using for your cable, A or B?

EDIT: I am in CT and have spare connectors if you need some.