Ferrite Core Improves Speed !

[EdTo]

It is uncommon and almost unheard of here in North American to slap a ferrite core onto an ethernet cable unlike in Europe, so I did and my speed really shot up. Case in point that EMI/RFI can cause noise to slow down your broadband connections.

I simply slapped a split core ferrite onto the telephone cable near the RJ-11 jack going into my DSL modem and another one on the CAT5e cable just before the RJ-45 jack into the NIC and the speed shot up !

I think my SpeedStream 5242E DSL modem itself was the cause of alot the RFI noise as my cable are pretty short and are all under 3ft.

Anyone else using ferrite chokes on their cables ?

[EdTo]

Wow, still no response from anyone ?

Anyhow, I have found a way to conclude with objective evidence that the ferrite choke really works in increasing speed. Since CAT5e cables are normally unshielded the EMI/RFI from the ADSL modem and power cables near the CAT5e cable really were causing interference with the ADSL signal before it enters the NIC.

By simply checking the "Sent" and "Received" errors on my XP ADSL network connection tells me that when I connected my CAT5e cable without the ferrite I was getting errors in both "Sent" and "Received", now with the ferrite choke on "Sent" and "Received" reads "0" errors for the past few days now and speed is really much faster, my human instincts really was not fooling me !

[trogers]

I think you mean these:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question352.htm

Useful if uncoiling cables or repositioning signal devices fail in a jungle of cables and electrical devices.

[EdTo]

I think you mean these:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question352.htm

Useful if uncoiling cables or repositioning signal devices fail in a jungle of cables and electrical devices.

Yes, those are the slit core ferrites I am talking about. With the majority of ADSL2+ modems in use, I don't think any of them are shielded with just a plastic housing where RFI/EMI can generate out of the modem. You just have to make sure that the ferrite is made from "Mix 43" to cover 3-400MHz RFI

I also found many ADSL modem manufacturers such as 3Com and CISCO that require these ferrites to be placed on the ethernet cable near the RJ-45 connector just before the NIC jack to have their modem operate at optimal condition.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Useful if uncoiling cables or repositioning signal devices fail in a jungle of cables and electrical devices.

About it...really only useful is there's a jungle and a mess of stuff around it. Else, using quality cables and keeping things neat prevents it in the first place.

[EdTo]

About it...really only useful is there's a jungle and a mess of stuff around it. Else, using quality cables and keeping things neat prevents it in the first place.

Well not quite true, any cable whether shielded or unshielded (skin effect of common mode) will act like an antenna and believe me my set-up is very clean and organized. Your telephone wire acts like a giant antenna carrying RFI/EMI from the outside which is again bombarded with RFI/EMI from your household appliances such PCs, TV, stereos, fluorescent lamps etc... and this signal is inputted into your modem and onto the ethernet side of things. Twisted pair CAT5e will only cancel out differential mode, but if bombarded with common mode like with electrical cables or RF signals it will create "noise" and affect your ADSL signal entering your NIC.

Can you guys check on your DSL/Cable connection if you are getting any Sent/Received errors ? just double click it in your "Network Connection - Activity" in Windows XP to see.

[rainallweek]

It is uncommon and almost unheard of here in North American to slap a ferrite core onto an ethernet cable unlike in Europe, so I did and my speed really shot up. Case in point that EMI/RFI can cause noise to slow down your broadband connections.

I simply slapped a split core ferrite onto the telephone cable near the RJ-11 jack going into my DSL modem and another one on the CAT5e cable just before the RJ-45 jack into the NIC and the speed shot up !

I think my SpeedStream 5242E DSL modem itself was the cause of alot the RFI noise as my cable are pretty short and are all under 3ft.

Anyone else using ferrite chokes on their cables ?

Hope what you say is true, I just ordered 10 of them!

[EdTo]

Hope what you say is true, I just ordered 10 of them!

Where did you order them from and how much ?

I was lucky enough to find them locally, I found the 0.26ID for the RG-6 coax/ethernet and 0.20ID ones for the RJ-11 phone cable. You can also use solid ring ferrites if you have not terminated the cable with a connector yet by wrapping the cable at least twice around the ferrite, solid ring ferrite will be about 10% better than split ring ferrites in performance.

Electronic Design article on ferrites and Ethernet
http://electronicdesign.com/article/com ... rnet-.aspx

3Com ADSL Modem Instructions on the use of ferrite on page 1-5
http://support.3com.com/infodeli/tools/ ... nstall.pdf

Juniper Networks ethernet cable
http://netscreen.com/techpubs/hardware/ ... 956-00.pdf

Star Micronics Interface board ethernet cable instructions
http://www.star-micronics.co.jp/eng/ser ... nic7ei.pdf

Yaskawa Ethernet
http://www.yaskawa.com/site/dmdrive.nsf ... .V7.26.pdf

National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/321221a.pdf

[YeOldeStonecat]

but if bombarded with common mode like with electrical cables or RF signals it will create "noise" and affect your ADSL signal entering your NIC.

Can you guys check on your DSL/Cable connection if you are getting any Sent/Received errors ? just double click it in your "Network Connection - Activity" in Windows XP to see.

ADSL stops at the bridge...your modem. If you have a DSL modem, RJ11 carries the DSL to it, and out of it comes ethernet, not DSL, but ethernet.

Plus..I always have a NAT router in between. Never modem directly into the PC, that would prevent the PC from being behind a firewall..yikes!

But back to the ferrite cores....their main purpose it to prevent interference from radiating out of the devices they're plugged into. Not protect the signal passing through the cables. In situations where sensitive equipment is placed in close proximity.

Snake Oil...there are some stereo equipment companies like Monster Cables making a killing based on this stuff.

[EdTo]

ADSL stops at the bridge...your modem. If you have a DSL modem, RJ11 carries the DSL to it, and out of it comes ethernet, not DSL, but ethernet.

But back to the ferrite cores....their main purpose it to prevent interference from radiating out of the devices they're plugged into. Not protect the signal passing through the cables. In situations where sensitive equipment is placed in close proximity.

Snake Oil...there are some stereo equipment companies like Monster Cables making a killing based on this stuff.

This is why I have a ferrite on the RJ-11 cable just before the modem and one on the ethernet cable right before the NIC. Actually a ferrite bead will stop RFI/EMI from both radiating out of the cable and as well from riding on the shield of the cable into the device, this is why a shielded cable is not 100% in eliminating random parasitic signals. HAM operators know this all too well, all cable/wires that passes a current is a potential antenna no matter how you look at it !

I am no fan of Monster Cable, but I am sure someone there is telling them what to do other than the marketing people.

[100 010 00]

if u r in a good cable condition, ferrite will probably cause some problems. btw, i use ferit ferrite on my wirelless combo modem router antenna and the signal is stronger

[YeOldeStonecat]

HAM operators know this all too well, all cable/wires that passes a current is a potential antenna no matter how you look at it !

HAM and video...yes, but that's a different technology.

If ferrite would had any impact on ethernet, don't you think we'd have seen products avail for ethernet a long time ago? We would have seen products that extend ethernet past 100 meters. We would have seen ferrite cores on "high performance ultimate gaming NIC" gimmicks like "KillerNIC" (kind of the Monster Cable of the gaming network world)