Netflix Bandwidth

georgelza

georgelza

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Hi all

I want to put some network points down in the house for TV's and apple TV's to show netflix, What type of bandwidth do I need to the points, I got a nice big roll of CAT5 cabling that will give me 100Mb, but if needed/makes sense will rather get CAT6 to have 1Gb, my switches can do 1Gb.

G
 
If it was me I'd future proof now rather than upgrading later.
 
georgelza said:
Hi all

I want to put some network points down in the house for TV's and apple TV's to show netflix, What type of bandwidth do I need to the points, I got a nice big roll of CAT5 cabling that will give me 100Mb, but if needed/makes sense will rather get CAT6 to have 1Gb, my switches can do 1Gb.

G
Click to expand...
Dude you need cat7 monster certified network cable to handle Netflix. Cat 5 is way too slow.

now, ignore what I just wrote. Cat5e is more than sufficient to host all your netflxing needs. It's capable of a gigabit of bandwidth per segment and even 4k Netflix only requires about 20mbps Internet bandwidth per stream. So use that roll.

Of course ensure that your switch that connects all the devices together is also gigabit certified and you will have a lovely internal network which will last you at least for the next decade. Hopefully by then we will have gigabit Internet connections here in South Africa.
 
... agree on the cat5, enough, as the link is much slower anyhow, and even if I have 5 active points watching they will still be throttled by my uplink speed... but then bwana has a point, no sense in putting old cable down, never know whats down the line, I also have a nice "fris" Synology (XPEnology) and PLEX server, which has allot of 4K media on it...

As for in SA, I'm going from 50/50 Fiber down to 20/2 OS VDSL, you wanna see tears...

G
 
Have to agree with @InternetLuddite here. Cat5e is perfect for home use - we've seen stable, reliable Gbps networks running on it. If you shop around though, you might find CAT6 cable for about the same price as Cat5 (think Uniterm). In general, we only deploy CAT 6 cable for our clients - it's just a matter of fewer callbacks and happier customers.

The most important here is your switch, chose something reliable. And your wifi; choose a good AP.

Fibre will be here soon enough. Promising to hear Openserve dropping copper altogether this week - it's a final nail in the coffin for any DSL service.. just a little patience.
 
georgelza said:
Just FYI
Switch is a TP Link SG1024, 24 port unmanaged 1Gb/port.
Wifi AP is a TP Link Archer C7 AC1750

I'm on Fiber already :)

G
Click to expand...
Stick with 5e, it can do full duplex 1Gbps up to 100m, supposedly one can do 10Gbps up to 45 meters and save a bit.
If it's really an extreme mission to replace the cabling (e.g. running under the floor boards), then you can think of 6.
 
... This is going into a new house... double story, no ceilings, going to put some conduit down.

aka might be very easy to replace some of it later, so will see, have some cat5... need to see which spec, pretty sure it's only 100Mb as I've picked up I can't sync faster that that on any of the points were that was used.

Might have to get some cat53 or cat6 for some of my main points.

G
 
Don't go Cat 6, it is older standard than Cat5e and you will have problems with grounding shield. Cat5e is perfect for you, just chose a quality brand and not CCA.

If you want to be future proof (above gigabit), get Cat6A (unshielded version). If you can't get UTP, then stick with Cat5e UTP.

Added: Remember one thing. You talk about Cat5 and I talk about Cat5e, a difference.
 
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