An Easy Way To Test Your CAT5 Ethernet Cables

If you haven’t figured it out by now, it’s much cheaper to make your own Ethernet cable than it is to buy it from the store. Plus, you can make the cable whatever size you like, so you’re not stuck buying a 9ft cable because your 3ft cable is 1ft short.

Lately I’ve had to make a lot of cable as I’ve been rewiring my house thanks to the many different computers I’ve added to my collection. The issue is, I’m not exactly “skilled” in making CAT5 cables. That doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it means that they don’t always work. I started looking around for a tool that would help me test these instead of sitting in on my butt in front of my router with a laptop setup next to it. Although that is a valid solution, my cats thought I was there to play instead of work.

I found this nifty little keychain device offered by our friends at ThinkGeek.com. They call it the PatchTest Ethernet Cable Tester and for $49.99 this little device can be hooked right onto your crimper so you don’t lose it.

So what does it do? If you take both ends of your newly crafted cord and put them into this wonder machine, it will tell you if the cable is a “Gigabit Ethernet Straight Through, 10/100Mb Fast Ethernet Straight Through, 10/100Mb Fast Ethernet Crossover”, or another failed attempt. I picked one up myself and tested it out. Let’s just say I won’t be quitting my blogging job to make cable professionally.