Windows 8 In Depth

General Cabling Tips

You can determine how much cable you need by measuring the distance between computers and your switch location(s). Remember to account for vertical distances, too, where cables run from the floor up to a desktop, or go up and over a partition or wall.

Keep in mind the following points:

• We refer to “CAT-5” here, but if you’re using 1000Mbps Ethernet, you must use CAT-5E or CAT-6 cable and connectors.

• Existing household telephone wire probably won’t work. If the wires inside the cable jacket are red, green, black, and yellow: no way. The jacket must have CAT-5 (or higher) printed on it. It must have color-matched twisted pairs of wires; usually each pair has one wire in a solid color and the other white with colored stripes. ...