Is a LAN cable the same as an ethernet cable ?

[NorthernRaider]

Anyone advise please?

[I-K-E]

yep I think so

I made up cables in the past from a big reel of the stuff that is used to wirer up LANs

the only thing that may differ would be how the plug is wired up

[NorthernRaider]

Ta very much, this new Toshiba laptop does seem to like staying in touch wirelessly with my home hub, its the only piece of kit in the house that wont stay connected. wife and kids PC plus his PS3 stay connected all the time but this loses its link every few minutes so i was thinking of running a hard wire from the home hub to the laptop,

[I-K-E]

Thanks sounds fine to me

I've connected my laptop and pc to the hub every how and then using both shop bought cable and an extra long one I made at work in my last job and they both worked fine

If you have a cable give it a go

[OpSecRadio]

Hi Nr - there are basically 2 types of ethernet cable. One is like a coax (aerial) cable usually with metal bayonet connectors on the end (this is old school and not used much these days). The other is RJ45, which is like a thick telephone cable with a larger plastic connector on each end - this is the type that your laptop and hub will most likely need. Your local computer shop will be able to make sure you get the right one.

[BeardyMan]

You, sir, need a blue RJ45 cable. Don't get the yellow one!

[Skean Dhude]

NR,

Although Gary is correct the coax versions went obsolete a long time ago. RJ45 is the norm now and it doesn't matter what colour it is either. Colours are just used to identity lines.

[NorthernRaider]

RJ 45 it is then , thanks chaplettes I'll start looking for a nice 10 meter one.

[Neuralsandwich]

RJ45 (AKA CAT 5) is the most used standard for most LANs but there are newer standards such as CAT 6 and CAT 6a. These newer cables designed for Gigabit networks. CAT 5 cables are much older. Still support gigabit but have much higher attention, crosstalk and power consumption.

But you are fine with the RJ 45/CAT 5

[BeardyMan]

(26 November 2012, 13:37)Skean Dhude Wrote: NR,

Although Gary is correct the coax versions went obsolete a long time ago. RJ45 is the norm now and it doesn't matter what colour it is either. Colours are just used to identity lines.

Colour does matter - the yellow ones are patch cables to connect 2 computers directly, with no router.