Cheap Cat6 in bulk kit - traps?

cavemanoc

cavemanoc

cavemanoc

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23 Mar 2005
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OcUK don't sell anything in this size so I hope it's OK to ask (no details I promise!)

I have found what looks like a fantastic deal comprising:
  • 150m cat6 ethernet cable
  • punch tool
  • crimp tool
  • 20 + 20 connectors
  • network tester

All for about £25. Assuming that the cable is actually Cat6 is there anything I need to be wary of, will the signal be poor? Is this too good to be true - I was looking at some decent Belkin stuff and the cable alone was about £70ish
 
I'd say that fits into the too good to be true category, as you said just the boxes of cable are normally at least £60
 
Looking at it - the seller 'profile' looks excellent - track record, feedback, sales volume. At that price it seems worth a punt - even if it turns out to be knock off Cat5e it's still a pretty good deal - how would I go about testing the cable when it arrives - I don't have anything that would saturate Cat 5, let alone Cat 6? :confused:
 
I have looked at a pack like that but just got a 22m cable from them instead. Think it cost ~£3.50 and was free delivery. The cable says cat6e on the label and I have not had any issues with it.
 
States:

Compliance Standards: EIA/TIA-568B Category 6
Wire Construction: CCA - Copper Clad Aluminum (0.4mm in diameter, runs up to 150ft)
Cables in side: 8 cables and each cable has 7 wires
AWG: 26
Type: Patch cable

I think I'm going to give it a go - just wish there was a way to test it once it arrives.
 
If it's CCA then the price looks sensible.

It is very thin, but should be okay if you aren't pushing the length limits.

It's stranded cable so make sure you only want to use it for patch cables as it won't punch.
 
I bought some cheap stuff once and it was awful. Never again! Very very thin, no shielding, the wires were very lose in the outer casing, like you could fit another 8 wires in there!
 
If it's UTP you wouldn't expect shielding.

There's nothing unusual about a loose jacket on network cable. The Cat6 (real full weight copper) I was installing the afternoon was fairly loose even with the plastic separator in there.
 
What sort of speed issues could I expect from cut rate cable - I don't want to embed stuff in the house to have to be digging it up again in 3 years when I find out it won't support 10Gb speeds. How important is the shielding? Given where this is likely to be I imagine it's going to be in pretty close proximity to both power and water lines.
 
Is it really worth the £35 saving ?

I don't think so.

First of all it is CCA, which is inferior to pure copper
secondly it is stranded cable, you want solid core cable if it is going to be used to be embedded in walls etc.
 
If this is going to be a permanent fixture in the house and buried into the walls is it really worth going cheap and either being stuck with it or having to rip walls out when you decide it's crap.
For something like that it's always worth spending the extra.
 
I've decided to go for the good stuff - can anyone recommend brands / specification? Looking to pick up at least 150m (maybe 250) so don't want to be crippled on cost!
 
Just had a good read Here on the pitfalls of poor installation of Cat6 cables - yikes - I'm guessing that is more relevant to industrial installs, but it was certainly an eye opener! Starting to wonder if it's worth the risk :eek:

Am I right in thinking that even if the cable run is damaged and unable to support 250MHz transmission, it would still be usable for gigabit networking?
 
You'd have to do something really horrible to lose support for Gigabit on Cat5e or Cat6 cabling.

IMO there's still a lot to be said for sticking with Cat5e rather than Cat6. If you know you'll be using the cabling for 10GE then do it properly and install Cat6a.

I have installed some Cat6 recently as the cost difference compared to Cat5e is now so small, but I'm still not sure it was the correct decision.
 
Definitely after the option for 10GbE - I don't have the kit yet, but will be looking to build a short point to point at 10Gb over the next year or so so definitely need it in the walls. Does this look about right?

Cat6 LSOH Solid UTP Cable - 305m: £97

Just our of interest - do you guys lay plastic conduit to allow ease of pull-through? I imagine that would make any future amendments much easier?
 
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It's a bit expensive, but not massively so. The box of cable I bought the other day (P/N: UTPS6) is currently about £10 less.

I'd use conduit if you can, and possibly leave some of it empty just in case you need to add something later.
 
Cheers - just to clarify, when I say conduit, I mean conduit embedded under the floor and in the wall - hopefully fat enough that if I ever need to add cables I can just pull them through without digging everything up.

Note to self - Leave some string in the conduit to help with future pull through!
 
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