There is a big difference between 10BaseT and 100BaseTX. The old 10BaseT standard was restricted mostly by signal strength and attenuation. At 100mbps, though, the timing is SO tight that if the cable is really ANY longer than 100m, the bits will not reach the recieving terminal in the allowed time, an error is detected, and collisions occur. 100BaseTX can start to have problems with as little as 102-103m! Doesn't matter how high quality the cable is, or whether it's Cat5e or Cat6, as the wall is timing related. Luckily for us, most modems are 10/100 auto-sensing and switch to 10BaseT without the user even noticing [Linked Image] And 10BaseT is FAR more forgiving- if high quality shielded cable is used and connectorized well, 500-600'+ is possible, though not really recommended [Linked Image] Theretically, I suppose 10BaseT could work up to 1000m if the signal is strong enough.

I've seen 10BaseT work over cat5 as long as 500', but with issues.

[This message has been edited by SteveFehr (edited 08-19-2006).]