If the cost isn't massively more then I'd go for the best I could get if it's going to be run round the house. Just for future proofing and less chance of needing to start replacing bits,
Less susceptible to RF interferance once house speeds start to go a lot faster, Cat6a is becoming the industry standard for what they are calling the gig standard i would go for the Cat6a its not that much more and is available on Fleebay in what ever length you require.
cat5s is much easier to work with (more bendy), cheaper and still does gigabit over household distances if you get proper copper conductor stuff (avoid ebay probably). And you can put plugs on it.
use unshielded unless it is running alongside power cables. if you go shielded then EVERYTHING should be shielded - patch panels, plugs, the lot.
Cheers guys, just wondered about the Cat6a because i've just moved in and plan to spend the rest of my life here so if 10GbE can be used in the future then i'd already have it. Buy the best i can and all that.
I was on the verge of using Cat 6A as the extra cost over 6 was acceptable. I went to get a smaple of it though as research told me it's a pain to work with. I chose to run with Cat 6 in the end as I've got 42 runs of cable. Cat 6A wouldn't have been able to have been installed neatly in my set up.
Just about to start doing this myself, been gathering all the items required.
Originally I was looking at Cat6a shielded stuff of which there doesn't seem to be much about in terms of being shielded under the jacket as well as the pairs. The most competitive of the Cat6a that I found was made by Giganet and retails at around £153 for 305m http://www.giga-net.co.uk/cat6a.html.
In the end I decided it was probably overkill for a domestic install where my longest runs will be no more than 20m and opted for the Black Box GigaTrue® 550 CAT6, 550MHz LSZH Bulk Cable which worked out at about £95 including VAT and delivery.
Cat6 should still do 10GbE according to the following link, subject of course to shorter lengths than Cat6a and being used with suitable NIC's, Switch etc at a later point.
I went for the unshielded but I know where I'm dropping down from the Loft bedroom that I shouldn't be passing near any electrical cables as I'm using the boxed in soil pipe space for the bulk of the run. If I encounter electrical cabling over the lounge ceiling etc I'll try and route it away from it or cross at something close to right angles. I got some reasonably priced flexible conduit in LSZH from Comtec and some 'P' clips on ebay to pin this in place and manage the separation of my install from the electrical stuff. Black Box also do some F/UTP if you need the basic shielded stuff which would work out about £130. I'm not sure at that price I wouldn't go the slight bit extra though for the Giganet Cat6a stuff which is also shielded around the pairs.
If you're doing a new build property it's worth looking at what make your light and plug sockets are as you may be able to get modular faceplates from the same range which is what I've done.
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