Ethernet Cat7 Cables and Internet Speed

[apex2000]

Just recently, I started using the TOT Fiber2U 100/20 Mbps service and have found that it is very reliable and up to speed most of the time.

 

The Ethernet cable that I have been using for ages is just an 'off the shelf' cable and I'm not sure what category it is.
 

However, I began thinking that if I've got this (relatively) high speed connection, maybe I should have a better Ethernet cable. So, I bought a Cat7 cable and tried it.

 

To my utter amazement, the download speed dropped tremendously while the upload speed remained almost the same.

 

Hopefully, the images that I've attached will be visible and someone will be able to explain to me why my download speed has dropped from 95.00 Mbps with the unknown Cat cable, to just 6.50 Mbps with the shiny new Cat7 cable.

 

Is this normal or is there possibly something wrong with the new Cat7 cable that I bought?

 

I hope someone can give me the advice I'm after. Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me.

[muratremix]

cat7? probably you bought a fake cable.

cat7 is for 10gbit ethernet and should be pretty expensive.

 

cat5 is more than enough for your home 100mbit connection.

[Forkinhades]

Think you should try your tests over a longer period of time. Is it easy enough to swap the cable over and do another test?

If you was getting close to what your isp is supposed to be delivering, why change something that is working quite well.

 

From my understanding, the difference in cable is just how tight they are twisted together. So the the more twists per meter the faster the speed. So quite possible you have a copy cable dressed up.

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

What speedtest site did you use?

You test to a server at Khon Kaen university.

Maybe it's a server issue.

 

You have a ToT fiber internet connection.

I suggest you better use their test to get the theoretical speed limits.

 

http://speedtest1.totbroadband.com/index.php

 

Currently seems to be in Thai only but simply click the button under the big circle in the center.

[apex2000]

23 hours ago, Forkinhades said:

Think you should try your tests over a longer period of time. Is it easy enough to swap the cable over and do another test?

If you was getting close to what your isp is supposed to be delivering, why change something that is working quite well.

 

From my understanding, the difference in cable is just how tight they are twisted together. So the the more twists per meter the faster the speed. So quite possible you have a copy cable dressed up.

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your answer. I did not expect to gain any speed from the Cat7 cable, but assumed that the signal quality would be better if it passed through a Cat7.

 

However, I certainly didn't expect any loss of speed. Looks like I've been sold a dud here. I'll keep testing and using different servers. I've already tried various servers within Thailand and outside the country and the result is always the same - loss of download speed but no change in upload speed.

 

Thanks to all for your help.

[janclaes47]

You could try rebooting your router and checking your connection, may be one of the plugs has a bad connection.Because even the lowest quality of cable would still support 100Mb download

 

I never understood the need for gigabit routers and gigabit Ethernet cables as I have never seen Gigabit internet in Thailand.

 

Cat 5e supports 10 times the speed your ISP provides.

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by janclaes47

[KittenKong]

9 hours ago, janclaes47 said:

I never understood the need for gigabit routers and gigabit Ethernet cables as I have never seen Gigabit internet in Thailand.

 

I use a Gigabit router and Cat6 cables because my old (but fairly decent) 100Mbs router just couldnt cope with data transfer between my local devices. My ADSL is 15Mbs at best, but that has nothing to do with it.

[Richard-BKK]

The problem is likely that OP used Cat.7 cable but used the standard Cat.5/Cat.6 connectors. With Cat.7 cable the additional shielding needs to be connected to the connector, Cat.7 cable connectors have an extension that connects to the shielding of the cable. Also Cat.7 cable connectors are made from metal to connect with computer...

 

See example of a Cat.7 connector

Edited April 27, 2017 by Richard-BKK

[muratremix]

18 hours ago, janclaes47 said:

You could try rebooting your router and checking your connection, may be one of the plugs has a bad connection.Because even the lowest quality of cable would still support 100Mb download

 

I never understood the need for gigabit routers and gigabit Ethernet cables as I have never seen Gigabit internet in Thailand.

 

Cat 5e supports 10 times the speed your ISP provides.

 

 

 

You know... Some of us has NAS devices attached to network for downloading linux isos and several other legal stuff. Then we stream to TV directly from NAS again. Gigabit network is a must.

[janclaes47]

11 minutes ago, muratremix said:

You know... Some of us has NAS devices attached to network for downloading linux isos and several other legal stuff. Then we stream to TV directly from NAS again. Gigabit network is a must.

 

You know............Cat 5e is capable of Gigabit transfers, but do you think that legal stuff downloads faster than your internet connection?

 

And you know..............the fastest write/read speed of a SSD today is THEORETICALLY ~550 Mb/s, in real life may be half of that.

 

So you know what................come back when you know of anyone who is able to download or transfer at Gigabit speed.

Edited April 27, 2017 by janclaes47

[muratremix]

8 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

 

You know............Cat 5e is capable of Gigabit transfers, but do you think that legal stuff downloads faster than your internet connection?

 

And you know..............the fastest write/read speed of a SSD today is THEORETICALLY ~550 Mb/s, in real life may be half of that.

 

So you know what................come back when you know of anyone who is able to download or transfer at Gigabit speed.

Did I said we need 10Gbit? If you look above I recommended cat5 cables over cat7.

There are no 10Gbit consumer routers for home use.

 

You don't need gigabit internet speed to benefit from gigabit in-house computer to NAS file transfer speeds.

[Crossy]

^^^

 

And, 100Mb ethernet would struggle to keep up with my 200Mb internet connection. Gigabit internet is available here, for a price of course.

 

Our home has all gigabit routers and switches linked with Cat-6 cable.

[Peterw42]

3 hours ago, muratremix said:

You know... Some of us has NAS devices attached to network for downloading linux isos and several other legal stuff. Then we stream to TV directly from NAS again. Gigabit network is a must.

Streaming a HD movie from NAS to TV would run at 5 Mbps or 20Mbps for a 4k movie, its not streaming at Gbit speeds.

[Peterw42]

3 hours ago, janclaes47 said:

 

You know............Cat 5e is capable of Gigabit transfers, but do you think that legal stuff downloads faster than your internet connection?

 

And you know..............the fastest write/read speed of a SSD today is THEORETICALLY ~550 Mb/s, in real life may be half of that.

 

So you know what................come back when you know of anyone who is able to download or transfer at Gigabit speed.

Hard drives transfer in Megabytes not Megabits, thats Big B, MBps. 8 Megabits make 1 MegaByte, or around 8 times faster. Storage, HD or bus speeds etc is usually measured in MB, internet speed etc is measured in Mb (so the providers can make it sound faster, lol)

Yes, downloads and streaming will not be at gigabit speed but local file transfers will.

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2017 by Peterw42

[muratremix]

39 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Streaming a HD movie from NAS to TV would run at 5 Mbps or 20Mbps for a 4k movie, its not streaming at Gbit speeds.

And transferring files from NAS to PC? You'd like to have 95 mbit/s connection between nas and pc?

I'd like to download bluray remuxes which are 25-35gb each and have variable bitrate of 40Mbps.

 

100Mbit fastethernet in 2017 is so outdated and deprecated.

 

Cat 5 cables comes in Cat5e, I doubt you can find 100mbit only cat5 cable in market, they are antique.

[Peterw42]

8 minutes ago, muratremix said:

And transferring files from NAS to PC? You'd like to have 95 mbit/s connection between nas and pc?

I'd like to download bluray remuxes which are 25-35gb each and have variable bitrate of 40Mbps.

 

100Mbit fastethernet in 2017 is so outdated and deprecated.

 

Cat 5 cables comes in Cat5e, I doubt you can find 100mbit only cat5 cable in market, they are antique.

Theoretically NAS to PC transfer would be at Gigabit. Technically 100 mbps only uses 4 wires in the cable and Gigabit uses all 8 wires, but cable manufactures have been terminating all 8 wire for 20 years. Any cable with all 8 wires connected will probably do gigabit over a short distance, Cat5e,6,7 is just better shielding and twist rates so it will do gigabit over a big distance.