Ok what exactly is the deal with USB cables' length limitations? My printer manual says, in the section talking about connecting it with USB, that I will "need to buy a USB 1.1 compliant cable that is within 3m in length." (It didn't come w/ any cables other than power.) Ok, why within 3m?? 3m translates to 9.8 feet if u wanna be exact. But they sell printer AM/BM USB cables up to 15 feet, maybe 16, like this one, for instance. Does that mean I should stay away from it and go with a 10-footer instead? Or is the manual kinda dumb? ** Why is it that usb cables in general can't be longer than like 16-ish feet, and after that u need those special extension thingies?
The signal can only go so far before needing a kick to get going again. The USB standard is not meant for long runs between equipment like ethernet and fiber optic networking equipment is.
The maximum length for a USB cable is 5 meters, or about 16 ½ feet. In contrast, the maximum length for an ethernet cable is 100 meters, or just under 330 feet. If your printer is going to be a substantial distance from your PC or if you want to share the printer with multiple PCs, you might consider buying an inexpensive print server.
I see. Well my printer is not going to be really far so it's not a problem. I was just wondering. So does the signal get noticeably weaker as the cable gets closer to the 15 feet limit? Does that mean that if I get a 15 foot usb cable it'll be slower than a 10 footer? Will that actually slow down my printer??
Yes, that's why there is a limit. Nope. 15 feet is within USB 1.1 specifications, so it can support the full capacity of the standard. Nope. As long as the cable is within technical specifications, it can be up to 5 meters without losing bandwidth.
Depends on the hub/switch, but sometimes yeah. Of course, if you want a USB connection longer than spec I recommend using a different technology altogether which is made for such distances, as I suggested earlier.
