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Local cable installed a 120 foot cat5e cable from our router to our smart TV, but there was no connection, so I decided to terminate the cable again myself. I bought a crimper and some RJ45 connectors. I terminated both ends and now receive a connection (before there was none at all) however when I run a speed test I don't receive speeds greater than 6 Mbps, which is odd because the other computers in the house, which are hardwired, receive above 60 Mbps consistently.

Am I crimping it wrong? Too tight? Perhaps the cable wasn't made to be used for such distances?

Cable says: ETL LISTED CAT5E UTP TIA-568-B RoHS COMPLIANT

Images of my two terminated ends:

pic

pic

I believe the order in the RJ45 connectors is: White orange, orange, white green, blue, white blue, green, white brown, brown.

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    Post detailed picture of your BOTH ends that you crimped.
    – TomEus
    Commented Feb 24, 2014 at 19:29
  • The length of the individual run is fine. That is also one of the many color codes, probably the most common standard. The terminations look good, but it is hard to tell from a single photo (eg, if wires go all the way to the end or if the pins or seated fully into the wires). You're best off testing with a tester (worth the investment if you plan to do more of your own cabling). Also, the poor crimps may have just been one of many problems. Look for bad creases where the cable was secured along its route. Be sure to bypass the cable and test, just to make sure you're on the right track.
    – MaQleod
    Commented Feb 25, 2014 at 2:25

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Modern ethernet can run up to about 300 ft. Because re-crimping did help a little, the next step should be to try it again. If possible, you should try to use an ethernet cable that is known to work so you can completely rule out problems with your network or TV.

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Cat5e cable can come in both stranded and solid-core varieties, and there are slightly different RJ-45 connectors for each type. For best results, make sure to buy and install the right type for your variety of cable. It's the "teeth" that pierce into each individual conductor that are of different designs for stranded vs. solid. There are also "universal" RJ-45's that try to be "okay" for either kind of cable, but probably aren't great for either.

Be very careful to keep the right twisted pairs together when crimping your cable. Here are the pairings:

1&2
3&6
4&5
7&8

Note that the ones in bold are not intuitive. Also note that pinout testers won't detect this flaw, because the pinout will still be correct; pinout testers can't tell which pins' conductors are twisted with which other pins' conductors.

Another rookie mistake to avoid is untwisting the pairs too far back. You should strive to avoid untwisting the pairs at all. You might be forced to untwist them a half-twist to get them to line up and go into the connector correctly, but you really don't want to untwist them any more then you absolutely must. If you're untwisting them several twists back, you're messing it up.

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