Not really unless it's exposed to the elements. As long as the plastic sheath is intact and the ends are protected from moisture, it should be good. Weak points are usually the connector ends.
If it were to sit on a table for 10 years and never be touched, moved, bent, then no it would never go bad. But that's not real world use of a cat 5 cable. There are many different things that a cat 5 cable is exposed to that can cause it to malfunction in a normal every day deployment.
I don't know what you guys do with your network cables but unless the connectors go bad, it's usually ok. I'm a Network engineer and I rarely see any issues other than that. You have to mangle it pretty badly to have issues. And at that point, you'd see the damage.
I read the single more likely cause of reduced throughput of CAT 5 is being bent. The greatest occurrence of bending is right where the cable hangs off the back of a device.
During bending, the twisted wires inside the sheathing become slack and eventually become less twisted and thus allow more cross talk interference between the lines and external interference influences.
CAT 6 includes extra stiffeners at the connectors to reduce the likelihood of sub-par performance.
If your cable gets to the point where the tubing is no longer secure in the RJ45 connector and there is a gap between the connector and the tubing where you can see the white and colored wires, it's time to throw that cable out. Another thing that's really bad is if it has a bad twist or bend. If the cable is discolored where the twist or bend is or flattened, it's had excessive force put on it and again... throw it out.
Not really unless it's exposed to the elements. As long as the plastic sheath is intact and the ends are protected from moisture, it should be good. Weak points are usually the connector ends.
No, it doesn't go bad.
It shouldn't go bad under normal use, but I have had cables go bad at both the connectors and mid cable. Some of this may be due to inferior cables..gif "80")
If it were to sit on a table for 10 years and never be touched, moved, bent, then no it would never go bad. But that's not real world use of a cat 5 cable. There are many different things that a cat 5 cable is exposed to that can cause it to malfunction in a normal every day deployment.
I don't know what you guys do with your network cables but unless the connectors go bad, it's usually ok. I'm a Network engineer and I rarely see any issues other than that. You have to mangle it pretty badly to have issues. And at that point, you'd see the damage.
TANK mentioned some important points.
I read the single more likely cause of reduced throughput of CAT 5 is being bent. The greatest occurrence of bending is right where the cable hangs off the back of a device.
During bending, the twisted wires inside the sheathing become slack and eventually become less twisted and thus allow more cross talk interference between the lines and external interference influences.
CAT 6 includes extra stiffeners at the connectors to reduce the likelihood of sub-par performance.
If your cable gets to the point where the tubing is no longer secure in the RJ45 connector and there is a gap between the connector and the tubing where you can see the white and colored wires, it's time to throw that cable out. Another thing that's really bad is if it has a bad twist or bend. If the cable is discolored where the twist or bend is or flattened, it's had excessive force put on it and again... throw it out.
I just give mine a sniff and as long as there isn't a sour smell they're good for another few weeks minimum.
How do they hold up to puppies?
You could just have lbizzle make you one up at the LAN. Just give him two-three hours.
When I had seen that you responded to this thread, I was really hoping for a picture...
AND IT WORKED LIKED A BOSS!!