Internet connection not working -- CAT5e

[TenOC]

My RV is 300 feet from my S&B home. About 5 years ago I ran (in a pvc conduit) a underground gel filled CAT5e cable from the S&B to the RV. I got good service at the RV with about the same speed as at the S&B.

I have now returned from 6 weeks on the road. I no longer have internet service at the RV. I do not know if there was any type of storm damage or other thing that could have "knock out" the cable while I was on the road.

I have tested the cable and I get a "pass" with one of these tester.

CAT5 Tester

Even with a "good pass" cable I can not connect to the internet. Is there some other type of tester that I can use to find out what is wrong?

[Sam_Spade]

YC 1 wrote:
Time to pull a new cable. I suspect you will find the old one soaking wet.

He did say that his original cable is gel filled, right ?

Unless it is badly damaged, that should work completely submerged......right ??

My bet is that the conduit and cable are crushed somewhere along the line, or similarly damaged. If that is the case, the old one might not pull out very good or at all. Or will have to be pulled in TWO pieces, one from each end.

I still think that proper WiFi equipment might be a better option.

[Chris_Bryant]

Cat6a is good for 328 feet @ 10 gbps, but you might also Google cantenna

[YC_1]

Time to pull a new cable. I suspect you will find the old one soaking wet. If you find it wet try to find a midway point in the conduit and drill a hole from top through the bottom once you pull the old cable out and just have a string attached.

Then seal the top hole. It does not need to be any bigger than 1/8 of an inch drill bit.

[wa8yxm]

300 Feet is not too far for wireless if you have a good Wi-Fi Client (Nano-Station Loco M or M2 as an example)

300 Feet IS the limit for Cat-5 if I recall correctly.

It may be the cable has gotten wet I have that issue when my 100' Cable gets wet.. Enough. You may just need to pull a new cable.

[wnjj]

TenOC wrote:

ksg5000 wrote:
Agree with Bobbo - take the computer into the stick house and direct connect. Easiest way to determine whether the cable is the issue.

The computer connects to the internet in the house using the same configuration (less long cable -- I used a short patch cable) as at the RV. Thus I am sure it is a cable problem.

After replacing the ends of the long cable I get and "unidentified" network error. Thus I think I need to spend the money for a new cable. I can not think of any reason to go to a CAT6 cable because as I understand it the CAT6 is NOT high speed at this long a distance.

If replacing the ends changed the behavior, double check your work (i.e. which colors on which pins). How likely was it that the ends were bad AND something with the cable?

[turbojimmy]

TenOC wrote:
After replacing the ends of the long cable I get and "unidentified" network error. Thus I think I need to spend the money for a new cable. I can not think of any reason to go to a CAT6 cable because as I understand it the CAT6 is NOT high speed at this long a distance.

It does sound like an issue with the cable. Unless you're throughput is 10GB or more the choice between CAT5e and CAT6 is irrelevant at that distance. I'd get whatever is cheaper. With either cable you are approaching the distance limitations anyway.

I have a couple-hundred feet of direct bury CAT6 running to a WiFi hotspot on my property (it uses PoE). The only problem I've had with it so far is that a fox chewed it up one night. The wireless camera connected to the hotspot caught him doing it up until I lost connectivity. He was trying to pull it up out of the ground for some reason.

[TenOC]

ksg5000 wrote:
Agree with Bobbo - take the computer into the stick house and direct connect. Easiest way to determine whether the cable is the issue.

The computer connects to the internet in the house using the same configuration (less long cable -- I used a short patch cable) as at the RV. Thus I am sure it is a cable problem.

After replacing the ends of the long cable I get and "unidentified" network error. Thus I think I need to spend the money for a new cable. I can not think of any reason to go to a CAT6 cable because as I understand it the CAT6 is NOT high speed at this long a distance.

[ksg5000]

Agree with Bobbo - take the computer into the stick house and direct connect. Easiest way to determine whether the cable is the issue.

[mike-s]

All xxxBASE-T Ethernet up to 10G is specified for 100 m, not 90, although it may work at greater distances.

How does the wiring go? Does the camper end just come out somewhere and you plug it directly into the PC? Or does it connect to a jack on the camper, which is then wired somewhere?

[Bobbo]

Have you connected THAT pc to the internet in the house to be sure that the pc is connecting? That takes the long cable out of the picture. If the pc connects while in the house, I agree with the options of 1. replace the connectors on both ends, and 2. replace the entire cable.

[TenOC]

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Most cabling is NOT rated for "direct burial". Conduit are not guaranteed to stay dry for their life, so you should still use direct burial cable.

I used direct burial gel filled cable

[theoldwizard1]

Most cabling is NOT rated for "direct burial". Conduit are not guaranteed to stay dry for their life, so you should still use direct burial cable.

For long distances and in "rough" conditions, I would recommend Cat 6. Large gauge wires so it should be able to handle abuse better.

The maximum recommended distance for a single segment of Cat5/Cat 6 wire is 90 meters or about 295'. You are close to that limit.

[TenOC]

mike-s wrote:
When plugged in, do you get a link light (little LED where the cable plugs in) at both the PC and "router" ends?

No led light at the PC. I have not checked the router end yet.

Assuming you do, and it's a Windows PC, open a command shell (cli), and enter "ipconfig". In the output, you want to look for the IPv4 address of your Ethernet adapter. If the address starts with 169.254... then it's not talking to the "router." You should expect it to start with 192.168...

The PC does not see any connection at all

[Sam_Spade]

TenOC wrote:
I get internet when a short patch ethernet CAT5 cable is plugged into the same port on the the router at the house that the long cable uses. Thus I know the router port is working.

IF....you are using the same laptop that you use in the RV to do this test, then you have tested everything GOOD except the cable and it's connectors.

Time for a new cable. Or maybe a WIFI extender.