How long can the cables be in an ethernet and a fast ethernet setup?
With ethernet, the maximum length of a cable from a hub to a computer is 100 meters (or about 300 feet). With fast ethernet, the single cable length is the same. Also, fast ethernet topology rules require a maximum of two hubs on a segment and the maximum end-to-end distance between workstations to be 205 meters. Thus is you have a computer connected to a hub and then that hub linked to another hub and then finally the second hub connected to a computer, the total run of cable can not exceed that 205 meters without a switch that can expand that limit. Keep in mind that for both ethernet and fast ethernet, you should be using a type of cable called category 5. This is essentially a standard for the network cables and relates to how many “twists” of the cable for a certain length. Regular ethernet can make do on a lesser quality standard (category 3 is common), but when you upgrade to fast ethernet (and you know you will someday) you’ll be out of luck unless you switch all your cables to
