Verizon Fios Report (And a Question for You Cat5 Gurus)
 

The Verizon man came and hooked up our Fios (fiber optics) internet connection today. I've checked around on a couple of bandwidth speed testers and it looks like I'm running between 3 and 4.5 Mbps. The service is supposed to be 5 Mbps. It is MUCH faster than DSL. You don't notice it so much while just surfing the web, but when you download something you can tell a huge difference. For $29.95 a month (if you are a current Verizon DSL customer), I think it is well worth it.

I do have one concern though. I don't know too much about Cat5 wiring, but I know the Verizon website says that you must have Cat5 wiring in your house for Fios to meet its potential. I know for a fact that my house does not have Cat5 wiring because all of the phone lines only have four wires in them. From what I know about Cat5, true Cat5 wiring has EIGHT wires.

Verizon was supposed to run everything necessary for it to operate from the street to my computer. My wife said the technician told her that we already had Cat5 wiring in our house. So, rather than fishing a new wire down the wall he spliced into my telephone wire in the attic. I'm pretty sure he told her that simply because he didn't want to fish a wire down the wall. I haven't checked his splice yet, but I'm willing to bet that there are four wires coming off of the line that he DID run that are not being used.

My question is, I'm still getting between 3 and 4.5 Mbps (depending on which test I use to determine the speed) even without the Cat5 wiring. If I pulled my phone wire out, replaced it with a true Cat5 wire and then spliced it with the Cat5 wire he left in the attic, do you think I would get the full 5 Mbps that I'm supposed to be getting? And, is it worth it? Pulling the wire and making the splice would be simple, but do you think I would be able to SEE the difference (if there was one)?

For the record, it is plenty fast right now for what I do with it. That said, I don't like it when stuff doesn't reach it's full potential.

Re: Verizon Fios Report (And a Question for You Cat5 Gurus)
 

I know a little bit about cat5 wiring :D
The only part where you changed something by the swap from DSL to FIOS is from the Router (DSL-Modem) to the provider. The rest remained the same. The Cat5 is needed from the DSL-Modem or FIOS-Router on to your computer(s). So if this part has already been cabled Cat5 the tech was right.
I usually run phone lines etc in the cat5e+ cable to be able to swap the phone for something else later. But splicing cat5 cables is something you should not do. (Due to the needed shielding and impedance)
If you really want to test out the true speed of the fios you can attach a PC directly to the fios router with a patch cable, but I think the speed should not change.

HTH
AlpineRAM

IIRC, you'll want to replace the in-wall wire only if it's not twisted pair. Cat5 should be untwisted no more than 1/2" at each termination point to live up to it's full potential. The speed difference won't be affected as much as the packet quality and latency. I made Time Warner replace all the cable from my house to the pole and ran a new cable line in the house straight to the cable modem when I moved in. I've not had any problems with the cable since then.

I'd love to try Verizon FIOS, but we're not in the test market yet. :) I'm in the process of having Time Warner install 100mbit fiber at the office. Once that's finished, it should be quick.

brandon. (YMMV, IMHO, etc)

You'll never get right at 5 Mbps. Overhead requirements are going to take a bit of that away. 4.5 is pretty good, and although we could probably tweak windows a bit to squeak a little more, the difference won't be noticeable.

Re: Re: Verizon Fios Report (And a Question for You Cat5 Gurus)
 

I'm not sure that I following what you're saying. I would THINK that you would need Cat5 wiring all the way from the connection on the side of the house (or to the box at the street) to the computer. If I understand you correctly, I only need Cat5 wiring from the modem/router to the computer. If that is the case, why would they say on their website that your house must be wired with Cat5 wiring?

Also, if I understand Joefarmer correctly, Cat5 wiring should not be spliced. The guy TOLD my wife that he spliced it in the attic. Would it be worth my while to pull out both my telephone wire AND the wire they installed and replace it with one continuous run of true Cat5 wiring?

Wiring shouldn't be spliced period, doesn't matter if it's Cat 3 or Cat 5.

I'd probably take a peek and see what they did. Running new cable runs can be a bit of a pain and I tend to "get to it" as time permits. [laugh]

I get between 4.0mbps and 4.5mbps over my cable modem connection. I had thought about Fios since it is available here, but that is the same speed as my cable modem, and I don't have a landline so.....

We tested a 20 foot length of Mohawk brand CAT5e cable with a Pentascanner tester.
We then stripped the outer insulation off about a foot of it and untwisted of it, then cut it stripped it bare and pig-tail spliced it (no tape or scotch loc connectors), we then ran over a section of it with someone sitting in a chair with wheels on it.
It STILL passed ALL Cat5e tests.

That's was some pretty tough stuff.

Also the NEC TIA-EIA code says a cable run cannot exceed 290 ft.
I've seen ISDN sets & LAN connected equipment working just fine 400+ feet from the closet equipment on GOOD brand cable.

Yeah, standard rule of thumb is 100 meters, unless you're going to toss a repeater into the mix. And I'm old school. Run short? Yank that bugger out and grab a new spool.

However, I've never seen a home installation require more than 290 feet for a run.

give that line a test here http://www.toast.net/performance/ and see what ya get for the 754 k test, I have cable and seem to be able to finish that test in .4 seconds flat, I am a true believer in short runs and top quality cable and splitters if at all, cheap splitter, cheap signal.

Edit: shoot Hoss I bet if ya look around the basement you might find an edge ez ya could mate up with them cat 5 connectors and toss some stacks on the router too!

Yup, I don't splice runs either.
A "short one" make a good drag line for the next bunch of cables. ;)

"Home" installations?....... ;)
I'm more familiar with setting up 100+ work station closets
(2 Phone, 1 LAN per work station). [laugh]

Built a facility a couple of years ago from an empty shell to a turn-key.
Approx. 600 CAT5E cable pulls by the time all the Phones, 'Puters, Printers, Faxes, Radios, Alarms & Hi-Cap circuits were installed.
Don't look for it,..... the facility "doesn't exist". ;)



My Verizon DSL....704kb on the test.

Heh! Good chance I worked there if that's the case (20 years in AF Communications).

Should try recabling a few server farms for grins and giggles, without any loss of service. [yuk]

Keep in mind that I have the cheap one. They offer speeds up to 15 Mbps for a higher price. But, for $30 a month 4.5 Mbps is plenty fast for me.

I ran that test (754k) just now and it finished in .0813 seconds....which was 7429 Kbps...which is considerably faster than what I'm SUPPOSED to be getting. Speed varied depending on which web host I used. That one was the fastest (Nibble Info Systems). Maybe I should just not worry about my wiring. ;)

dayum, nice speed, wow, congrats to a killer speed and enjoy I know you will.... makes the net a different place, heck with speed like that you can pull info off the net faster than you could get it off ouw own hard drive......... tis a thing of beauty.