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When I connect ten computers over a 100 meters (328ft) UTP Cat5, is the signal loss so large that it will affect my network performance? These computers perform simple office tasks, and the 100m utp is a temporary solution.

  • Keep them away from any high power lines or anything to do with radio. You should be fine. – Chris S Jul 19 '10 at 19:20
  • If the cable's good and there's no radio/power interference (as Chris said), it *Should* work. But you may have performance/noise issues. You said it's temporary...just need to make sure it *stays* temporary and doesn't become permanent. Otherwise you'll need another switch or device to bridge the distance. But this is if you only extend it a reasonable distance over 100M, not 150 or 200 meters. Otherwise, create a backbone and use a couple switches. – Bart Silverstrim Jul 19 '10 at 19:35

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UTP cable does not have a maximum length.

However, the protocol that runs over UTP has a maximum length for performance and technical reasons (such as collision detection in Ethernet).

You're probably talking about Ethernet, and the maximum end-to-end cable length in Ethernet (at least for 100Base-TX, 1000Base-T and 10GBase-T) is 100M.

Assuming you're running full-duplex, you're withing spec (and hence should be fine) as long as no switch-switch or switch-host connection exceeds 100M.

MikeyB
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  • You can run into problems with resistance on distances that start approaching 110-120 metres, especially if there are patch panels involved. Worth a try, but I'd suggest having a simple hub or switch on standby, if it doesn't work. – Vatine Jul 21 '10 at 11:24
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I have used 100M + 100M Cat5 cables connected through a simple network hub.

ocsid80
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  • A hub can work as a repeater to get longer lengths. Of course you need power for the hub, which is potentially a problem depending on the application. – Chris S Jul 19 '10 at 19:20
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Maximum cable length in Ethernet networks is 100M; if you're really in need of a connection extending any further, you should place a simple hub/switch between two shorter cables and it will happily resend the signal to the far end.

Massimo
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