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Cloneman
join:2002-08-29
Montreal

Cloneman

Member

[DSL] Outdoor phone cable run?

I was planning on running a new cable directly from my outdoor demarc, which involves a 40ft indoor run and approx, 10ft outdoor run.

I'm told that standard cat6 isn't appropriate for the outdoor portion.

The question is, what should I use for the outdoor part (running along the outdoor brick wall), and where should I buy it (in montreal, or shipped from somewhere)

moffa
join:2007-10-14
North York, ON

moffa

Member

There is cat6 you can purchase that it made for outdoor use. I know monoprice sells it but they are American. »www.monoprice.com/produc ··· #1023405
Maybe you can ask some local shops if you only need 10 ft.

Edit: »www.cablek.com/product/u ··· 41cbl5ex sells 500 ft. They look like they are in Montreal, maybe they'll sell you a few feet.
Scycotic
join:2012-12-10

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An alternative to running outdoor cat6 (which is rather expensive and comes in large rolls), is to use conduits...Seeing as you're only doing 10ft this could be an option. Run a regular Ethernet cable inside conduits to lower exposure to weather.
dutox101
join:2010-01-02

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Have a look at Addison Électronique in Montreal...

Fil à réseau CAT-5E extérieur souterrain UV : 0.67/meter

»addison-electronique.com ··· ory/608/
mr_hexen
join:2007-08-02
Brampton, ON

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run it in conduit. its cheap, easy, and will shield a regular cat6 cable. Plus, you can run more than 1 inside a standard .5" conduit.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

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If it's only 10' or so outside, then just add some protection to it for that part of the run. Either conduit, or even just a good wrap of electrical tape for added UV protection.

Guspaz
Guspaz
MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC

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Cablek's prices aren't great, the one cable I did buy from them was of poor quality, and they don't like to sell direct to consumers (they're a supplier, not a store). Although they will, if you walk into their offices, say "I work next door", and buy a single 6 foot cable from them, which involves invoices and picking it up from the depot next door :P
Cloneman
join:2002-08-29
Montreal

Cloneman

Member

Thanks for the comments. I'm trying to figure out how many types of outdoor cables there are and which is best.

From what I'm seeing, some are UV resistant, some are GEL Filled for waterproofing, some are shielded, and some have a combination of the above.

Which one do I want?
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

The only concern with this tiny outdoor run is water protection. So long as the outer sheath is not cut/pricked anywhere, even indoor cabling is sufficiently waterproof. The sheath can degrade over time due to UV exposure, causing cracking and thereby losing waterproofness. Conduit, or a wrap of protective tape, will prevent that.

"Outdoor" cables simply have thicker outer sheaths already, and better UV resistance, so they don't need the extra wrap of tape. For burial purposes, some have extra waterproofing agents (eg. gel) inside.

For a 10' run above ground on my own property, I wouldn't bother with trying to acquire 10' of specialty cable. But maybe that's just frugal me.
Scycotic
join:2012-12-10

Scycotic

Member

I agree lol. Might as well just have that specific 10ft section separate from the other 40ft, then just replace it every year or two...

UV, as well as temperature changes will damage the cable over time, but it's only 10ft...not that hard to replace.

btw, do NOT get the shielded cable. STP is completely different from UTP, which is what regular Ethernet is. Using STP can actually be detrimental to the signal in some cases, not to mention terminating it is more difficult.
mlord
join:2006-11-05
Kanata, ON

mlord

Member

More likely every 10 years or so, depending upon sun exposure. My outdoor cat5 ethernet runs are 10 years old now, and essentially "good as new". But they receive only a couple of hours of direct sunlight each day, so I didn't even bother wrapping the (indoor style) cable with electrical tape.
mlord

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mlord

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(the site locked up while I was trying to post my reply above.. when it finally came back, it got posted in triplicate!)
Scycotic
join:2012-12-10

Scycotic

Member

lol, but that should be reassuring to OP...

I've actually been considering laying an Ethernet cable from my basement to the second floor by going outside (no feasible way indoors), if it indeed lasts 10 years I might go ahead and do it this summer!
Eug
join:2007-04-14
Canada

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I have a slight bit of experience 3 cables outdoors, as a DIYer

The house I bought had a short run of regular CAT5 outside. I think it was put there maybe 8-9 years ago or so and it's still fine. Fine as in the cable still works, but the outer sheath is faded and is drying up, and was already in this state when I moved in 6 years ago. So, it only took a few years to get to this appearance.

However, when I ran CAT5e to my home theatre, I decided to use the gel-filled stuff, because much of the run was going to be near ground level, covered in snow at times during the winter. That gel-filled stuff is expensive and it's really icky to work with, but otherwise it's like any other Cat5e cable, albeit with a thicker sheath. I'm told it's quite flammable though so that's something to consider.

For my last run of outdoor network cable I needed a couple of hundred feet of it. So, I just went on Kijiji and bought 1000 feet of noname outdoor CAT6 for uber cheap. This one does not have the gel. It just has the usual sheath, then a very thick outer UV-resistant and water-proof sheath. Because of the thick sheath and because it's the CAT6 with the inner spline, the cable diameter is almost as big as RG59 which makes it fairly stiff, but nonetheless it works. I use it for an outdoor IP deercam and the cable is even buried in soil that often wet (from our in-ground sprinkler system) for about 15 feet and it works just fine after a few years. The difference between this cable and the regular CAT5e I mentioned above though is that the sheath hasn't faded at all and there is no noticeable drying up of the sheath. It looks almost new, so it seems that the UV rating and water proof features of it do really work, even for cheap noname outdoor cable. I think I paid something like $60-80 for a spool of 1000 feet. Yeah the cable's QA likely sucks in comparison to the Belden I have inside the house, but Gigabit works, and I only need about 10 Mbps anyway for the deercam.

Judging by the faded and dried Cat5e on the side of my house, I would never bury regular CAT5e/CAT6 because the degradation is too quick. However, it seems the non-gel-filled outdoor cable is probably OK for this purpose. Gel-filled is the best, but is damn expensive and really gooey, and very flammable.

That said, a buddy of mine buried some regular CAT5e and it still works after several years.
Eug

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Surge protection

Also, I don't know how effective these things are, but I did install a surge protector where the deercam cable enters the house, since it's running along the ground for quite some distance.

»www.apc.com/resource/inc ··· =pnet1gb




The green wire is attached to electrical ground.
Cloneman
join:2002-08-29
Montreal

Cloneman

Member

Re: [DSL] Outdoor phone cable run?

Thanks for all the comments, always good to learn more about cables.

Since it's a short run I went for the Addison option, Cat5 UV Burial rated, but with no gel. (of course I got boxed in at the Addison parking lot ). Normally I would monoprice but since they sell 1000ft intervals, I'll gamble with Addison-tier stuff

bryanviper
join:2002-10-12
Toronto, CAN

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I have a regular Cat6 Shielded cabled about 50ft running outside. Its been there for about 2-3 years and its still good. Going to leave it there for a few more years I'm sure.

Don't be afraid to use regular Cat6 cable worst case you may need to replace it after a few years.
Eug
join:2007-04-14
Canada

Eug

Member

said by bryanviper:

I have a regular Cat6 Shielded cabled about 50ft running outside. Its been there for about 2-3 years and its still good. Going to leave it there for a few more years I'm sure.

Don't be afraid to use regular Cat6 cable worst case you may need to replace it after a few years.

I'm curious. Why are you using shielded?

bryanviper
join:2002-10-12
Toronto, CAN

bryanviper

Member

said by Eug:

said by bryanviper:

I have a regular Cat6 Shielded cabled about 50ft running outside. Its been there for about 2-3 years and its still good. Going to leave it there for a few more years I'm sure.

Don't be afraid to use regular Cat6 cable worst case you may need to replace it after a few years.

I'm curious. Why are you using shielded?

No reason other then I had it around. I know it wont make a difference outside.

GreenEnvy22
join:2011-08-04
St Catharines, ON

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Conduit is the best way to go, lets you run more down the road if you need to.

This summer I'll be running a 20 foot section between my house and my garage. I will have to break up my concrete patio in the back a bit unless I can find a way to bore under it.
I'll run a conduit so I can run more later if needed.

Might even run water at the same time. My garage has a drain pipe so it would be nice. Hmm, now that I think of it, maybe I will do natural gas too... so many options!!!