could someone guide me through this as if i were a child.

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how long is too long? is their a point where signal strength starts to become an issue. Basically i'm now looking at a 30m (98ft) cable on eBay, would I have problems with this or should it be more than adequte for my needs?

Maximum length for Cat5/5e/6 cables is 100 meters (328 feet).

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how long is too long? is their a point where signal strength starts to become an issue. Basically i'm now looking at a 30m (98ft) cable on eBay, would I have problems with this or should it be more than adequte for my needs?

Maximum length for Cat5/5e/6 cables is 100 meters (328 feet).

Also, if you are concerned about just having a cable running all over your house, you might consider one of the ethernet over power (HomePLUG adapters). I've had pretty good luck with these, so far. Obviously, it's a bit more expensive than just going out and buying a cat5 cable, but I don't like having cables running all over my house.