Networking question

[JimHob]

I believe that it's 365ft and that's cat5e but there is cat 6 and 7 I believe you could get more and faster.

[CatCynic]

Technically, it depends on the speed you are running on the Cat5. If you want to run gigabit Ethernet, then the limit is much lower than for 100BaseT or 10BaseT. In theory 100BaseT is limited to a 100m run, but I've seen it run a little further (depends a lot on EMI and cable quality). 10BaseT is spec'd to 100m, but will run considerably further using good cable and minimal interference - I've heard tell of a 1000m run, but I have my doubts about the veracity of that account Gigabit is theoretically limited to 30m, I believe, and requires Cat5e.
No matter what, the limit is between active devices, so yes, you can extend it by inserting a "hub" (technically, the device is a switch, but that term can confuse people). I'm not sure what the limit is on the number of "hub"s, but you can have a central master one, and run subsidiary ones off that, so you can easily reach 400m - 100m to subsidiary, 100m to central, 100m to subsidary, and then another 100m. If you need more than 400m, then you should probably look at optical fibre.
BTW: I strongly recommend using gigabit Ethernet - the speed difference is quite perceptible when you say "move that folder containing 300Mb of images from this machine to that machine". It used to be horribly expensive, but has become quite affordable (especially given that a lot of modern motherboard come with gigabit Ethernet on-board).
HTH

[badtz]

As mentioned, spec is 100 meters (360 feet or so) but you can go a lot farther than that with good cable if there is nothing in the area that will cause signal attenuation. You can also put in a decent switch and segment the run. 300 feet is generally enough for most cat5/6 runs in houses though, hopefully it is for you.

[roninsps]

Originally Posted by RSStory

We just leased the space behind and are expanding the studio. So I am now moving the editing room into the new space but I am not sure how far I can run CAT5 cable without causing problems. Any ideas?

Thanks

I've used CAT5 at 400ft without any problems, BUT.....switch to CAT6 and you'll be fine...

Steven W. Choi