Cables

[queenie]

I make ethernet cables at work, when I need them. I heard that the wires have to be set up differently in order for them to access the 100 Base-tx. Can anyone substantiate that? So far I have not noticed any lack of connection speed or problems? Thank you.

[enat66]

You make them? That has to be interesting how you do it.

[spydr]

Typically, the 100Base TX is defined by the twist in the twisted pair wires. When comparing the 10BaseT & 100BaseT, the twists are tighter in the 100baseT which helps keep interferance out of your cable. The wires are typically set a certain way as a standard. The reason for this is basically because if you wire your entire network, and a year from now you are gone, if you didn't follow a basic wiring standard it would be harder for someone else to pick up where you left off. When looking at the connectors on a patch panel (not the patch cable itself), you will notice that the connector is numbered by color such as white/orange - wire#1 and orange - wire#2. By keeping with the standard wiring code, you are less likely of crossovers and it's a little easier for Troubleshooting. For patch cables, what I've seen mostly used in the past is as follows from left to right:

white/orange
orange
white/green
blue
white/blue
green
white/brown
brown

The reason for this type of wiring scheme is because with patch cables, the numbering order of the wires from 1 - 8 isn't labeled from left - right, but labeled by the color code on the patch panel connectors.

[queenie]

Thank you Spydr for the information. I will try that setup for our 100 base-tx.