I am getting an opportunity in setting up SambaPOS in one of the most prestige places in the town I work in.
However, the client wants 2 terminals. One at reception and one at the restaurant. Maybe even Android/Windows tablets in the future for the 2 pools they have.
My problem is that where they plan the terminals are almost 100 meters away. Does anyone have an advice I can follow.
I am already thinking in using the most expensive cable I can find with the least resistance in copper. But I am not sure whether there might be a better solution to this.
Where is the switch going?
I would expect throughput to start falling before the 100m limit depending on your routing ie, near power cables etc.
Thats a hell of a run.
Id drop a switch somewhere in the middle.
Or look at fiber if you want but id go with the switch LOL
Thats the thing its all a bit tricky when it comes to networking, its all somewhat far away from each other.
Main network is actually quite a bit away so I am thinking on using WiFi as a source of internet connection at least for the cloud and using a proxy setup (basic white listing for Windows) for most important websites that staff might use.
Yeah I know you shouldn’t really have longer than 80m cables. I am thinking best option would be to stick a switch somewhere in the middle too haha.
This is what I told the owner. We would have to cut some corners (outside of the guest visible area) to get the least amount of distance and in the same time I dont want it to look like a cowboy set it up lol
I think my English language expertise has failed me here. What do you mean by patch panels?
Fiber cable itself isnt hugely expencive and you can get switches with fiber ports for reasonable money but i would go with switch somewhere in the middle.
Ill have a look at price that for the optic hardware but will definitely keep a switch in the middle as an option.
Since its a really prestige place, I really want to deliver as much as its possible for the budget Ive been given because it can serve as a step forward in the area I just moved to recently.
Ive never actually tried but I cant imagine that it just stops working at 100m. I would have expected a gradule loss of throughput and increased lost packets over a distance.
Kinda want to slap tow terminals on ends off a full box and see if anything actually happens LOL
I mean you can in theory run 10gb+ over lower spec cable like cat5e but for shorter distances.
Patch panels are basically terminating ends for cable runs typically used on conjunction with a switch… it makes large cable runs going to multiple terminals easier to manage… in your case with just 2 terminals it may be overkill but it would add some future ability to expand quicker.
Instead of cables dangling it makes a neat and tidy panel you can just plug cables into and its typically labled on each port.
Patch panel is just a network rack equivilent of wall mounted patress box, i have a couple here at hotel.
Device <-stranded cable->Patress Box by device <-long solid core run-> patch panel<-stranded cable -> switch
I see what you mean. In my situation there is a place outside but isnt really suitable for a rack or wall mounted box. I was thinking of leaving that in the office and dragging the network on the exterior but yeah there is almost 100 meters between the hole in the wall and the reception.
Yeah, I would expect it to have a gradual reduction of speed and possibly get more lost packets which would affect the speed, but it wouldn’t just not work.
Also using higher quality shielded cable, and CAT6 instead of CAT5 should work better over greater lengths.
You don’t need Gigabit speeds for running SambaPOS, only if you are streaming HD video.
We used to do some massive runs at Walmart. Those buildings are huge and while they do use fiber for some critical runs most of their systems are Cat6 ran in the ceilings from a server room generally in the back of the store. I know some of those runs are very close to 300 or more feet.
Installing SambaPOS you want to make sure you have reliable cable. In my opinion no cable other than honeywell. Also I would install a ubiquiti equipment only. Get a unifi gateway from them to do the routing and dhcp and what not. And also get their switch. Also for the wireless terminals you want to use their unifi ap-pro access points. If you build this network backbone properly I promise this will be a seamless experience for you. If you don’t, well you’ll spend months there with issues such as kitchen tickets taking a few minutes to print in the network printers, random disconnections, etc.
Max you can run a ethernet cable is 100m = 328 feet. You should be good as long as you stay under that. If you need to go over 328 feet id install a switch in between and link it with a cat6a cable if all your doing is pos or a fiber if there are more heavy use devices like surveillance connected on that mid switch.
