Facing a job needing 50,000 custom Cat6 cables and 100,000 terminations, a contractor known as Analytical Horsepower built a portable cable-untwisting tool from a Milwaukee Hackzall reciprocating saw. He had initially modified a $500 Alibaba wire-straightening machine with a DeWalt battery and bike pump for field use, but found it too bulky for tight spaces, so he redesigned the mechanism around the handheld Hackzall, cutting untwisting time to under two seconds per cable.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-11-14
A New York City homeowner found one of their in-wall Cat6 Ethernet runs had degraded to 100 Mbps despite having 2.5 Gbps-capable switches and access points. Rather than fish a new cable through difficult walls or fall back to a weak wireless mesh setup, they installed a thin 'invisible' fiber optic cable—originally designed for apartment and rental retrofits—using a MikroTik switch, media converters, and bidirectional SC SFP+ transceivers to restore high-speed connectivity between floors.
momandpop.network
· 2026-11-02
Standard indoor Ethernet cables, despite rugged-sounding category names like Cat5e and Cat6, are not built for outdoor use because their PVC jackets degrade under sunlight, heat and rain, exposing internal wiring. Guidance highlights that outdoor runs should use cables rated for exterior exposure, such as direct-burial cables for underground installation, paired with surge protection at both ends. Outdoor-rated fiber optic cable is offered as an alternative that avoids some risks tied to copper conductors.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-26
An Ethernet coupler simply links two RJ45 sockets without boosting signal, and a single coupler usually works fine if connectors are solid. trueCABLE ran cable-tester trials using a Fluke DSX-8000 on various Cat6 and Cat6A cable-and-coupler combinations, finding that setups with three couplers generally passed (one barely), while four-coupler chains failed outright. The report also notes the standard 328-foot copper Ethernet limit still applies regardless of how many couplers are used.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-18
Windows 11 users can check negotiated Ethernet speed under Settings > Network & internet > Ethernet, or via the ncpa.cpl shortcut on Windows 10 and 11 to view adapter status. Mac users can find the same information under System Settings > Network > Ethernet > Details > Hardware, with the configuration kept on Automatic to avoid connection problems.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-17
Category cables like Cat5e and Cat6, normally used for networking, can carry HDMI signals when paired with HDMI extenders that place a transmitter on one end and a receiver on the other. This setup lets video travel much farther than a standard HDMI cable allows, without actually using Ethernet networking or a local network connection.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-03
Cat7 cable raises the frequency rating to 600 MHz versus Cat6's 250 MHz, adding foil shielding around each twisted pair plus an outer shield to reduce crosstalk and interference, and was designed to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet over 100 meters. However, a true Cat7 installation requires compatible GG45 or TERA connectors and a cabling channel that meets the full specification, not just a cable labeled Cat7 plugged into standard RJ45 ports. Meanwhile, TIA guidance indicates Cat6 can support 10GBASE-T reliably up to about 37 meters, and potentially up to 55 meters depending on interference conditions.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-29
Actual network throughput is capped by the weakest link in the chain, whether that's your internet plan, router or switch port, network adapter, cable quality, or cable run length. Cat5e can support 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps per TIA guidance, Cat6 can hit 10Gbps only up to 37-55 meters, and Cat6A is needed for 10Gbps at the full 100-meter distance. Cat8 supports 25-40Gbps but only over 30 meters and was built for data centers, while Cat7 is recognized by ISO but not by TIA in North America.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-29
Standard Ethernet installations are capped at a maximum total run of 328 feet, a figure set by networking standards to account for signal loss, interference and timing errors rather than an absolute cutoff. That distance typically breaks down into 295 feet of solid-core cable plus up to 33 feet of flexible patch cables at each end. Within that range, Cat5e or Cat6 cabling reliably supports 1 Gbps speeds, and everyday runs of 10 to 100 feet won't cause any slowdown.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-14
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