Having got a funky new TFT monitor now (I know, but it is miles better thanthe old CRT it replaces) I am allowed to move the PC downstairs to free upthe small room for sprog2 (due Easter).Only problem is getting network connectivity to it and to the printer thatwill live next to it...Wireless is an option as I do have a wifi net at the moement but this addsup to a fair bit more cash than a couple of bits of UTP. There are alsobandwidth issues. Problem with UTP is routing it in a wife-acceptable waythat doesn't require huge amounts of effort (or lifting the fitted carpets f poss). The only real route is from my router into the loft, back downthe outside wall and into the conservatory...Two problems:Firstly, will the cable degrade in sunlight? I'm assuming so but I can livewith this as long as it will give me a couple of years life.Secondly, reading back in this group and hunting on the net suggests thatlightning strikes near the building will fry things. Now, I assume thatthe risk of the cable itself getting struck is not the issue here (plentyof other things like TV aerials nearby and higher) but induced surgesare the problem caused by local strikes? If so, is this really an issue?I remember as a kid our neighbours sockets being blown off of the wallfollowing a strike on a tree in the garden - this was supposedly inducedand the claim was that the strike had not hit overhead cables or anything.If this is true then I can't see how 3 metres of UTP is going to make ahuge difference. A strike that close will fry my house whatever. Surelybeing the other side of a few inches of brick won't make a lot ofdifference?Am I missing something? Is UTP much more dangerous than the sat cablerunning down the wall or the TV cable? I guess PCs maybe a bit moresensitive to surges but even so...Cheers,Darren

It happened locally....the damage was extensive. What the chances are, Idon't know. I guess it depends on the size of the strike and also how close it is. A university not a million miles from me had a department who (typically) went their own way and did this. They lost a lot of stuff.It doesn't need a large induced current to fry interfaces etc.

UTP loop outside house?

Jan 03, 2004 26 Replies

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Christian McArdle 22 years ago

I'd still just use wifi. I had a similar issue with my desktop machine and just bought a USB wireless adapter. You can get them for a touch over 30 quid (the UTP will cost you for faceplates etc as well). My time is too valuable to start installing cables that just don't need to exist. I can also shift my machine easily when I need to. Unless you are shifting huge amounts of data regularly, even 11Mbs is ample, let alone the faster versions now available.

Christian.

P.S. I ran standard UTP on the outside of my parent's house about five years ago. North facing wall. Still works perfectly.

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dmc 22 years ago

This would be ok for the PC - but my hardware print server would need a WIFI-Ethernet bridge. Not as cheap.

If I could do it with wireless for less than 40 quid I would probably go that route.

If you could *really* get 11Mbs (or 22, or 54 etc) then maybe. As you can't then I would really like the extra speed of wired. One thing that I keep saying I am going to play with is extracting video from my TiVo. If I start throwing video files around from the PC to the server upstairs then 100Mb would be v.handy! I have a wireless net for the laptop and it is great. Not convinced for desktops yet unless they move about a lot.

Good good. I think I will go with a single bit of UTP and a cheap switch. Ebuyer seem to have cheap 8port switches for 8 quid which seems insanely cheap!

Darren

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abuse 22 years ago

Also check out uk.telecom - there have been several threads in the past 6 months or so on outdoor UTP cabling. For example:

formatting link

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dmc 22 years ago

East facing. Sun for part of the day.

I have a route that will mean that I can cabletie it to a downpipe for most of the route. That should give it enough protection for a couple of years I reckon.

Few storms. Never known a strike anywhere that near here in the 6 years we have been here.

Thats the way I see it. To be honest, not much of the kit is worth anything anyway - its old stuff that I have collected which does what I want. If I kill a P200 I won't be too disappointed (particulary as there is a fair chance that my TV, stereo etc will be dead by this point!)

Just what I thought. Cheers

Darren

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Paul 22 years ago

Still, if this is the Uni that I think you are talking about Bob talking about, then the lightening strike can't have been as bad as that year that a building with a lot of CAT5 in fell into that tunnel...

;-)

Paul.

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dmc 22 years ago

I think we may just be talking about the same Uni here :-)

Darren

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Bob Eager 22 years ago

But since that was 1974, they were still using teletypes and Ethernet hadn't been invented....!

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