[Hidden-tech] Network question

[Neal Priestly]

Hi Daniel-

One thing you don't mention is how far away the "back building" is from the
patch panel - is the actual cable run over the distance limit on Cat5/5e.
(counting lifts and drops, corners and re-routes vs straight level line
between cable ends...)

Another is this - have you actually run a speed test from the front
building?  Are you getting relatively consistent service, but the power
users are all out back and they are the ones who are noticing the service
level ceiling?

Have you run speed tests with the internal network largely at rest, both
from a 'front' and a 'back' endpoint?  Have you done this during the
business day as well?  Recall that cable is a "shared service" model - 20Mb
is a limit, most providers won't guarantee a consistent delivery of top
speed, even to business rate paying customers.  If you're in an
under-provisioned/oversold corner of the network that may be what you get
during working hours.

How old are the hubs/switches between the front and rear buildings?  If
you're running a 10Mb switch serving multiple users, seeing 6-7 Mb at one
endpoint would make perfect sense.

Have you put a cable tester on the connection between the buildings to
check that you're getting good clean signal on all conductors?

Happy troubleshooting....

-Neal Priestly
 Free Range Technologist


On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 3:41 PM, Daniel Lieberman <
daniel at daniellieberman.org> wrote:

>   ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>   ** If you did, we all thank you.
>
>
>
> Have a perplexing situation. We have 20 megabit down internet service from
> Comcast coming in to the front building of our place, gets passed via Cat 5
> probably 150 feet to a patch panel, which distributes it to ethernet ports
> in 5 or 6 rooms in the back building.
>
> Why would the connections in the rear building only provide 6-7 megabits?
> Could we replace switches or panels in the rear building to provide more
> bandwidth to the individual connections? Or is the splitting of the signal
> in the rear building the issue?
>
> Any suggestions? I'm baffled.
>
> Daniel
>
>
>
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