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[CaptainZok]

His lordship has just got another 360 on fleabay and wants to extend the network up to his bedroom so he can watch the tv from his media centre pc.
Easiest way I can see of cabling is out through the wall, up the side of the house and back in but is normal cat5 cable suitable for external use or do we need a special weatherproof version to run outside?
TIA

[hotel21]

Given the amount of liquid sunshine that Bolton gratefully accepts, Cap'n, better get the specially reinforced Atlantic Ocean Fibre Optic Cable version....

   

[CaptainZok]

Given the amount of liquid sunshine that Bolton gratefully accepts, Cap'n, better get the specially reinforced Atlantic Ocean Fibre Optic Cable version....

   

Nice one B, spose you'll be using that in the kingdom too.

[Kevin Wood]

Had a piece running up from the study to the loft room for a couple of years. Really must get round to actually clipping it to the wall.

It's been out in all weather and swinging around in the breeze and it still works OK. It's solid core grey STP IIRC.

Kevin

[Darth Loo-knee]

Highlander does have a point Captain  

[TheBoy]

No is the official answer.

You may find it happily lasts a couple of years though.  UV from the sun will kill the outer shieving, and the cable will disintegrate.

[hotel21]

Guessing its not really much different from the cheap as chips Sky or Virgin plastic coated poo thats nailed on most of the walls around the UK....   :-/

[CaptainZok]

Hmm I'm sure he can be persuaded up a ladder every couple of years to replace it.
Looks like I'll be shelling out for a couple of hubs and a reel of cat5 in the near future then.
Wonder if installing it in plastic micro trunking would help matters?

[Kevin Wood]

Hmm I'm sure he can be persuaded up a ladder every couple of years to replace it.
Looks like I'll be shelling out for a couple of hubs and a reel of cat5 in the near future then.
Wonder if installing it in plastic micro trunking would help matters?

I had a bit of similar cable feeding an aerial rotator for 10 years or more at a  previous abode. When I took it down it had discoloured a bit where exposed to sunlight but it was still perfectly intact. My guess is that he'll have flown the nest before it degrades. It'll be fine inside a bit of trunking.

Kevin

[TheBoy]

Hmm I'm sure he can be persuaded up a ladder every couple of years to replace it.
Looks like I'll be shelling out for a couple of hubs and a reel of cat5 in the near future then.
Wonder if installing it in plastic micro trunking would help matters?

I had a bit of similar cable feeding an aerial rotator for 10 years or more at a  previous abode. When I took it down it had discoloured a bit where exposed to sunlight but it was still perfectly intact. My guess is that he'll have flown the nest before it degrades. It'll be fine inside a bit of trunking.

Kevin

not sure why, but black cable and other dark colours last longer

[Kevin Wood]

not sure why, but black cable and other dark colours last longer

I've always wondered too. Would have thought darker colours absorb more light energy. :-/

Maybe it just doesn't penetrate as far into the outer sheath.

Kevin

[Ken T]

It would look pretty and would stop UV deterioration, but the idea of standing on ladders with a heavy power drill in one hand, a screwdriver in the other, a mount full of screws, rawlplugs somewhere else, and of course a piece of trunking,  plus trying to hang on.  :-/   I would be inclined to get it over and done with as fast as poss. Even drill the holes from in side the room, so when up the ladder you have one hand free to hold on at all times.  

Ken

[CaptainZok]

Ok next question, I've an 8 port 10/100 hub running the wired segment of my network now, if I replace this with a gigabit hub, run cable upstairs and plug this into another gigabit hub this should give me plenty of network bandwidth to connect four or five devices (pc's xboxes etc mainly 100 Mb devices) shouldn't it?

[HolyCount]

Probably no need to say -- but don't forget the "drip loop" at the bottom where cable enters house !!!

[Kevin Wood]

Ok next question, I've an 8 port 10/100 hub running the wired segment of my network now, if I replace this with a gigabit hub, run cable upstairs and plug this into another gigabit hub this should give me plenty of network bandwidth to connect four or five devices (pc's xboxes etc mainly 100 Mb devices) shouldn't it?

Gigabit will probably be overkill, TBH. The bottleneck will be the incoming broadband / cable connection. Unless you need very fast access between devices within the house I'd keep it 100Mb.

Remember, each device will only use the network in "bursts" so most of the time the connection will be idle.

Kevin