Point to Point Radio - how long of cable can I tolerate?

[axbeet]

I am on an acreage. I receive internet via point to point radio. My router was set up on the far side of my house where the injector was for the point to point radio. I would estimate there is a 35 to 45 feet of cable between the radio on my roof and the injector. The router was hooked up the injector with a 6' cable. Everything worked well, but WIFI coverage was not ideal with the router on far side of the house. A couple days ago, I put a coupler on the 6' cable and ran a new 50' Cat7 cable to the central point in my house. Wifi coverage was great, but the internet was non-existent. I unplugged the cable from router and into a laptop and it worked fine, but I couldn't get the router to work with it. I put the router back on the 6' cable on far side of house and it worked well. My theory was the cable losses were simply too high and the router wouldn't work on end of 50' cable even though the laptop would. I then plugged the 6' cable into a ethernet hub and the 50' cable into the hub, and router back into the end of the 50' hub. The router then seemed to work better. Dumb question, does an ethernet hub boost the signal?

I then permanently pulled 50' of new Cat6 cable through the ceiling (this is different cable from the 50' cable I was using earlier). I was able to plug it directly into the injector without using that 6' cable, or coupler that I was using earlier. Router worked, and I figured the elimination of the 6' cable and connector was likely the solution. HOWEVER, tonight I suffering significant packet loss and slow internet at times. Screen loss below. I REALLY like the better wifi coverage I am getting with a central router, but I need to figure out why I'm losing packets. Two different and brand new 50' cables. I've read I should be able to run 100's of feet. What's up? Is there a limit on the cable length between the injector and the router?

 

[axbeet]

I need to apologize. I made an assumption the problem was with my equipment and cables and not the ISP. I just connected a laptop directly to the injector (no router) and saw the same packet loss and reduced speeds. I contacted the ISP and learned they are having problems. I DEFINITELY had some cable issues the other day, but the current problems are likely the result of ISP.

I am still curious on maximum cable lengths from the injector to the router and whether a ethernet hub "boosts" the signal? The injector in this case powers the point to point radio which is on my roof.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Cat 5E/6/6A Ethernet, 100m or 300-ish of your feet seems to be the commonly used single longest run suggestion.
You wouldn't be boosting the signal, as it's being retransmitted once it enters the router.

 

[axbeet]

Thank you. I tried "coupling" cables two different ways. One way was to plug the 6' cable and 50' cable into a 5 port TP-Link hub. The other way was to use a single female to female coupler. The hub has an external power supply, and the female to female coupler is unpowered. Are you saying that both will preserve the signal the same? I felt like the 5 port TP-Link hub preserved the signal better, but that was just one test and I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion.

I know office buildings must have ethernet cable runs much longer than 300'. How do they do it?

 

[ColinTaylor]

As mentioned above Ethernet cable is good for up to 328 feet, assuming the cable is up to specs. If you're having problems with a 50' cable there's either something wrong with your cable(s) or equipment. "Signal loss" isn't an issue, although you could suffer from interference if you're running unshielded Ethernet next to power cables. Passive female to female couplers were banned at the company I used to work for because they caused more problems than they were worth. Cheaply made with poor quality metal contacts, YMMV.

If you need to go further than 328' then you'd use an intermediate switch, or more likely a different type of media, e.g. fibre.

 

[Samir]

I need to apologize. I made an assumption the problem was with my equipment and cables and not the ISP. I just connected a laptop directly to the injector (no router) and saw the same packet loss and reduced speeds. I contacted the ISP and learned they are having problems. I DEFINITELY had some cable issues the other day, but the current problems are likely the result of ISP.

I am still curious on maximum cable lengths from the injector to the router and whether a ethernet hub "boosts" the signal? The injector in this case powers the point to point radio which is on my roof.

Generally, a well-made coupler shouldn't cause any problems and should just act as a cable. But the last time I bought couplers were a few years ago and they were gold plated, etc. I'm pretty sure the garbage ones being dumped from overseas today would be marginal at best, hence the potential issues. Also, it is very hard to terminate cables perfectly so that they meet spec 100% of the time, so that is probably a factor as well.

As far as your question about the hub/switch, I doubt you had a hub, but instead had a switch. (Hubs were limited to only 2 cascaded units and suffered from having the same collision domain so the entire network was limited to 100m/328ft.) Switches act as a signal 'repeater' since each port is good for 100m/328ft. They are also not limited to number of cascaded units or have the issue of all the ports having the same collision domain since each port is essentially it's own collision domain and own physical 'network'.

Back in the day when ATM 155 was available, it competed with 100Mb ethernet because shared 100Mb couldn't compare to the ATM 155 speeds of a true 155Mb since ATM didn't use 'collision domains' for managing packet traffic. But once 100Mb switches became cheap, ATM 155 had a real competitor, and once switched 1Gb came on the scene that did ATM in forever...

 

[TheLostSwede]

Thank you. I tried "coupling" cables two different ways. One way was to plug the 6' cable and 50' cable into a 5 port TP-Link hub. The other way was to use a single female to female coupler. The hub has an external power supply, and the female to female coupler is unpowered. Are you saying that both will preserve the signal the same? I felt like the 5 port TP-Link hub preserved the signal better, but that was just one test and I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion.

I know office buildings must have ethernet cable runs much longer than 300'. How do they do it?

You're sending digital signals, so it's not about "preserving the signal", it either arrives or it doesn't. Please don't use Ethernet hubs, they're outdated and could cause packet loss. Get a cheap switch they're like $20. That said, a switch or router would take the incoming signal and retransmits it, which is why port 1 and 2 could each have a 100 metre cable attached and you'd still get the signal at the other end.
The coupler you used, not so much, as it's just for "emergency" extensions imho.
As for your last question, see above.