What is a cat 5 cable and where do I get one

Hello

Am new here. I have an older Inspirion 6000 (bought used) which I dearly love. We are taking a vacation soon and the cabin we are going to has WIFI but no Broadband. My Inspirion is capable of both but in the notes about the WIFI in the cabin is says to bring a cat 5 cable.

I have no idea what a cat 5 cable is or where to get it.

Thank you.

 

Cat5 is a particular category of ethernet cable. You should be able to find it just about anywhere that sells electronics or computers.

 

Cat5 is a network cable. Do a quick google for what it looks like. Its available at nearly every electronics store and even at supermarkets for a few dollars.

Cat5e and Cat6 cables will work fine too, just get whichever is cheaper or available.

 

on topic, why need a cat 5 when we want to use the wifi ?

 

you dont. cat 5 cables are only for wired connections. although its always good to have one around to hard wire into routers or whatever for updates and stuff. a short one usually comes free with hardware that uses them.

you can get them at walmart.

 

i dont know what cabin you are going to, but alot of hotels say they have wifi, but its only in the lobby or lounge. then in the room out of reach you have to use a cable. most have them available for free or for a deposit, but they are cheap if you wanted to take one just in case.

 

You all are AWESOME!!! Thank you so much. We have been to this cabin before but we didn't have a laptop. The cabin is up in the Georgia mountain and they allow us to take our dogs (most important thing) and it's a fantastic place. The only thing we take is our food and cloths. Perfect place and less expensive than a hotel.

Thank you all for the wonderful imput. We have booked the vacation for October. But since we are now in Hurricane season I'm going to run out and buy the cat5 cable just in case a hurricane comes (we live in a mobile home and have to evacuate) and we have to go to a hotel.

Wonderful people HERE!

 

I bought Cat5 cables for real cheap ($1.25) from HDMI Cable, Home Theater Accessories, HDMI Products, Cables, Adapters, Video/Audio Switch, Networking, USB, Firewire, Printer Toner, and more!

 

CAT5 is pretty outdated. Get at least CAT5e or better CAT6! They are downward compatible to CAT5.
Also make sure not to buy a crossover cable.

 

Just about any 3+ * rated hotel that I have stayed at has wireless accessible from the suite. Just inquire about the wireless Internet service before booking rooms.

Crossover cables have pretty much gone the way of the Dodo bird, seeing that most Gigabit NIC's have MDI-X built into them.

 

Anyone but me having a problem with the concept of a place not having broadband, they do have wifi, and bring a cat5 cable??

 

I would just in case. There are times were a room will not be close enough to a repeater or nearby AP.

 

Just make sure that you dont get a CAT5 flip cable Some ppl dont notice these things .

 

Just note that CAT 5 is 10/100 cable. CAT 5e and CAT 6 are gigabit capable. I hard wire any time I'm at home and convenient. It's just so much faster.

And yeah, get a pass-thru cable not a crossover cable. Crossover cables will let you network between two PC's using the cable. Pass-thru is a "normal" cable that is used with most networks.

Monoprice.com has cheap cables. They also don't charge you separate shipping for each cable like a lot of sites do. They just do it by size and weight of your total order.

 

This is an cat5 ethernet cable. You can buy them pretty much anywhere. I've bought them at walmart, dollar stores, etc.

They come in many different colors and lengths. They will always have the same connector though.

Shannon