Does a Longer Data Cable Make the Internet Slow?

As an electric signals travels away from a source, it weakens. The signal distortion is called attenuation. After a certain length, dependent on the type of cable, the signal will become too weak to be used.

Attenuation

• When referring to attenuation charts, the signal loss is measured in decibels (dB). Charts are based on a loss over 100 feet of cable, and can be multiplied or divided to achieve an estimate of signal loss for different lengths. Based on the quality of cable, signal loss varies from 0.2 dB to 1.9 dB.

Other Factors

• Attenuation, or signal strength loss, is affected by frequency. As more information is passed, more can be distorted or lost. Higher temperatures also increase attenuation at a rate of 0.4 percent per Celsius degree.

Home Networking

• For home networking, a length over 100 feet is not needed, so speed is not affected. To optimize performance, it still is important to use high quality, low loss cables, and use the minimum length of cable needed to make the connection. For extremely slow connection speeds, verify all connectors are functioning properly, sufficient hardware is being used and that a problem does not exist with the internet service.