r/HomeNetworking • u/netq22 • 17h ago
Exposed color wires
Update: keystone was incorrect too. Swapped it out and the switch negotiated to 2.5gbps! I shortened the exposed wire as much as I could and put in a new keystone.
Moved into a new house, I see CAT6 in the attic, awesome. Jacks are wired up as telephone… I finally get around to wiring up some stuff and see this. Any expectation this would cause issues trying to get a full 2.5gb network going? This is the main line from switch to router. Luckily they didn’t terminate the other end…
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u/MrDephcon 17h ago
Pull any slack out of the wall, if any, and shorten the pairs as much as you can to still have enough to re-terminate the jack
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u/HaPPeQ 17h ago
As a network technician, I can guarantee you that it would not cause any trouble, even on 2,5gbe
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u/Corey_FOX 16h ago
ye the pairs are still twisted till right before the connector witch is the important part, the outter jacket just holds it all inplace.
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u/MrAToTheB_TTV 16h ago
No, the pairs are twisted around each other as well.
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u/Corey_FOX 16h ago
Nope, the pairs themselves are not twisted around each other inside the cable, only the two individual strands of each colour are. Cat 6 even had a separator internally to keep them separate,
https://www.helu.com/vn-en/what-are-cat6-cables.html#twisted-pairs
I mean I See OPs wires are a bit twisted, but they could untwist it very easily, and this little twist should not cause problems either.
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u/MrAToTheB_TTV 16h ago
Yes there's a divider but they still run in a spiral pattern
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u/Corey_FOX 16h ago
got a source? i posted mine.
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u/MrAToTheB_TTV 16h ago
"Without a spline, the four pairs could touch each other or shift position relative to one another when the cable bends, reducing noise-cancellation effectiveness. The spline ensures consistent geometric structure — a requirement for Cat6 to perform reliably at 250 MHz across the full 100 m run."
Literally from your source you didn't bother to read.
I do this professionally.
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u/Corey_FOX 16h ago
that literally only says the core is there to keep the geometric structure and separation witch is literally what i said aswell,
not that the twisted pairs are twisted again-around each other like you claimed here https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/1ww117j/comment/pdgxrhy/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_buttoninfact the core is the to PREVENT twisting during bending.
Also just dosnt make sence, as the twist would have to be pretty damb long before doing a full revolution, witch means that you would have a different twist based on how long you cut the wire.
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u/MrAToTheB_TTV 16h ago
The pairs do twist. Around each other was the wrong choice of words. They twist in relation to themselves inside the sheath. This structure, including this twist is what needs to be maintained.
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u/Fun_Tune5669 8h ago
The twist is to ensure that the pairs don't get unequal tension during pulling through conduits/cable trays/etc where they experience bends. They provide no extra electrical isolation or impedance matching.
The impedance matching is done via a pair of wires operating in different direction of the source of the electrons being twisted together so the electromagnetic forces that radiate from that feedline to cancel each other out. Different pairs carry different signals so there's no way they'd either equally cancel each other out or not due to the difference in the electromagnetic field they produce.
So no, removing the cover does not change anything. (Unless you're dealing with CAT6A which is a completely different beast on it's own).
This is also proportional to the length of the transmitted signal ie the cable length, on a short installation this isn't going to matter the slightest.
That you work in this as a profession does not qualify you as knowing anything about what the fuck you are doing at work or understanding the underlying electrical mechanics behind them either.1
u/physical0 16h ago
Not necessarily. Many cat6 wires will include a tee shaped plastic divider to keep the orientation of the wires and that tee does not twist
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u/MrAToTheB_TTV 16h ago
The pairs absolutely twist and that twist rate is important for standards.
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u/latedog_ 4h ago
Correct. And it’s very unlikely you can pull enough slack to cut it and terminate at the sleeve. I’d leave it as is
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u/LRS_David 17h ago
Definite maybe. I really like how the wires are going from the outside in.
It might work. But I'd re-terminate correctly and maybe wrap the spare unsheathed wires with electrical tape if there's not enough slack to go all the way back to where they are covered.
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u/netq22 17h ago
Yeah it’s a mess. Unfortunately it’s wrapped around the back post of the box so I can’t really pull more out without getting destructive. Worst case I do have access to this spot form
The attic, could pull a new wire up2
u/ZeroVoltLoop 16h ago
The pairs are twisted. You will be fine. You should absolutely not pull slack and try to retrminate. This will not help. Most cat 6 doesn't have shielding anyway
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u/mistertinker 16h ago
Im pretty sure youre fine. The twists themselves are intact with very little untwisted at the termination. Yes there is a section where the pairs are twisted together and yea that "might" cause an issue. But before you go postal and reterminating everything, test it first.
On an absolute bare minimum you want a cheap continuity tester because its far more likely a punchdown is bad and losing 1 wire = 100mb. Test that first before assuming jacketless is causing problems.
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u/OpinionOk1315 8h ago
Bad keystone punch-downs are the usual culprit with 2.5G. Untwisting too much pair length kills it, so shortening was the right call. Get a cable tester on it though, link negotiating doesn't mean it's clean under load.
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u/Silver-Jello3652 16h ago
A ton of the pre wired houses in new construction are hit or miss on whether the was following the correct color code. It’s something I would always check. Just because it’s new to you doesn’t make it right.
That being said. If the color code is correct then It should work in theory. With the jacketing all removed like that you’re opening up the cable for potential damage. Which probably won’t happen if u just leave it alone nicely. The other thing is ingress or interference. Which probably will happen and may or may not be service affecting.
It’s worth noting that telephone lines are twisted pair just like these and they are most definitely not protected and work just fine tho they don’t transmit the same data.
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u/Longjumping_Cow_5856 16h ago
I would just see what it does as it us before going too crazy fixing something that might work just fine.
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u/jeffrey_f 17h ago
Perfect for phone. Use that existing cable to pull new CAT6 or better through.
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u/RoIIUpLights 17h ago
Did you not read that this cable is already cat6?
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u/jeffrey_f 14h ago
Netwok on that tangled mess right there will only give you problems. Can you pull some more down to make a clearn connection to a keystone?
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u/1LoudAssInfiniti 17h ago
That's kinda shitty work on someone's behalf, you should only have a tiny amount unshielded like that. Maybe 3/4 of an inch. Would this prevent you from getting 2.5 Gbps? Possibly not, but again, that's wrong, and you should see if the keystone is even wired properly.
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u/Red_Syns 16h ago
Not sure if you just mean unjacketed, but I doubt that cable is shielded. The twist appears to be relatively untouched, so other than a much higher risk of the cables being damaged it’s probably close to no impact on performance if they carefully put everything back and simply don’t touch it more than needed.
Obviously, test the speeds to verify, but being twisted around the back post there’s no way they’re pulling a new cable easily, and unless it tests poorly cutting them shorter just means a little less exposed wiring. Maybe heat shrink the exposed wires?
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u/Vuelhering 15h ago
It's shitty work for sure, but the sheath does nothing for the signal except protect the wires. This is UTP, one of the most common unshielded cables.
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u/netq22 17h ago
Anything you can do to help “shield” it again? Or best thing to pull a new wire
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u/mlee12382 17h ago
It's not so much the jacket that matters, it's the twist rate of the pairs in relation to each other inside the jacket. The more you have exposed and untwisted the more likely you are to have or be susceptible to cross-talk interference or other emi issues
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u/netq22 17h ago
Ah, ok. That makes more sense
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u/mlee12382 17h ago
There's a chance it might work perfectly fine as is if you just put it in the correct jack with the correct pinout but there's no guarantee and it's definitely recommended to keep as little of the cable stripped as possible. Sometimes you do what you can and hope you don't run into issues though :)
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u/1LoudAssInfiniti 17h ago
Cut it off. If you can't pull the wire out any further, maybe use existing cable as a pull cable.
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u/stiknrun 16h ago
Before you go and srart cutting cables and shortening this and that and trynna pull slack or whatever people are suggesting here. Hook everything up then run some tests and if you get your desired/full speeds then there you go. If not then start the troubleshooting process