Is 10BASE-T Compatible with 100BASE-T?
2

Question

Is 10BASE-T Compatible with 100BASE-T?

kfgjn43 (MIS)

(OP)

17 Mar 12 03:34

Hi,

I'm going to be working on an old printer with a 10-BASET port for 10 mbps Category 3 cable. I have the following questions:

1. Can I plug in Category 5 or 5e cable into the 10-BASET port?
2. Can I connect Category 3 cable to a new router from the old printer?

Thanks,

Rich

http://www.advantage-computer.biz

kwing112000 (Vendor) · Answer 1 · 2012-03-17 12:14:12

yes the rj45 is the same for both. depending on your router/switch it should be auto sensing 10/100 so you can plug it in.

Kevin Wing
ACSS Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Communications
ACS- Implement IP Office
ACA- Implement IP Office
Carousel Industries

jimbopalmer (Programmer) · Answer 2 · 2012-03-17 14:36:32

Cat 3 is rated for 10 meg to 100 meters. It wouldn't be reliable if you try to use it at 100 meg.

Cat 5e, Cat 6 and Cat 6a are rated for 10 meg to 1 gig, all at 100 meters. They are all equally fine for these speeds.

Cat 6 is also rated for short runs of 10 gig, and Cat 6a is also rated for 100 meters of 10 gig. If you don't need 10 gig, you don't need any flavor of Cat 6.

I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

kfgjn43 (MIS) · Answer 3 · 2012-03-17 17:26:13

ok. Thanks, guys.

http://www.advantage-computer.biz

FredWagner (MIS) · Answer 4 · 2012-03-19 13:35:02

One problem you might be aware of in case you run into it. Some 10BaseT equipment will not work with equipment designed for 10/100 operation. The situation I ran into was a group of magnetic card scanners - I needed to use 10 of them in a building that was shared by several agencies, with several wiring closets.
I wound up scrounging some discarded 10BaseT hub/switches, and configuring patch panels so that the scanners only saw the 10BaseT equipment, and I set up the one PC they needed to see with dual NICs, one to talk to the scanners, and the 10/100 NIC to provide access to the rest of the network. For just one printer, you could get by interposing a single 10BaseT hub or switch between it and the rest of the network.

Fred Wagner

dcib (TechnicalUser) · Answer 5 · 2012-04-19 09:34:52

I would recommend replacing the cable with cat 5/5e at the very least. The speed/duplex should auto negotiate to 10mb. Some older systems do not auto negotiate well so be prepared to force the the speed duplex at both ends.

http://www.datacenterinfoblog.com/

Come Join Us!

Posting Guidelines

Is 10BASE-T Compatible with 100BASE-T?
2