Ethernet cables

Cyber-Mav · 23 Mar 2021 at 13:41

pp111 said:
Cat 5e unshielded is fine for the home. There is just no need to buy expensive cables. I don't think OKUK sell cables so I am safe in saying the Kenable are a good supplier. They offer quick delivery and their cables are not overpriced. You may actually find some difficulty in getting Cat5e these days, Cat6 is a fine replacement.

cat10 can be had for cheaper than cat5e, no brainer

..... or no brain if you buy it :confused:

Cyber-Mav · 23 Mar 2021 at 13:42

Avalon said:
Difficulty in getting hold of 5e? C'mon, it's way too early to be that drunk.

lol even the likes of toolstation and screwfix have it.

Rainmaker · 23 Mar 2021 at 16:26

Cyber-Mav said:
lol even the likes of toolstation and screwfix have it.

..and just about everywhere else, including OcUK.

Cyber-Mav · 23 Mar 2021 at 17:45

Rainmaker said:
..and just about everywhere else, including OcUK.

Ocuk need to do big rolls that would be handy.

Rainmaker · 23 Mar 2021 at 17:51

Cyber-Mav said:
Ocuk need to do big rolls that would be handy.

Yeah, so long as they're not 'pre-discounted for your convenience'... lol

Tiggymala · 24 Mar 2021 at 17:18

Minibiker said:
Hi all

I'm just looking for more info about Ethernet cables, I see there are so many and I've not got a clue what's what

Cat 3
Cat 5
Cat 5e
Cat 6
Cat 6a
Cat 7

Any information would be great to help me understand

Thanks

If you can get a cat7 cable for the same prices as others just do it, better shielding etc usually - I put cat 7 all around the house a while ago was no dearer than cat6 cable on amazon actually cheap and easy.

WJA96 · 24 Mar 2021 at 21:27

Tiggymala said:
If you can get a cat7 cable for the same prices as others just do it, better shielding etc usually - I put cat 7 all around the house a while ago was no dearer than cat6 cable on amazon actually cheap and easy.

I beg to differ. Firstly, REAL CAT7 is a beeatch to terminate, especially if you’re doing a lot of them. It’s a massive, heavy cable reel to cart about. All the extra shielding makes it MUCH harder to bend than CAT6, then once you’ve got it run in, you have to VERY carefully remove the outer sheath so you don’t take off the primary shielding, then you have to strip off 4 extra sets of sheathing, untwist the pairs, get them into the connector, and THEN you still have to terminate the primary shielding to the connector, making sure none of it is exposed so it could become a conductor to nearby cables. Good luck!

Plus, the actual plugs and keystones are crazy expensive because of the amount of metal in them.

Unless you’re inclined to brag about how much your network install cost or you got everything for free off a building site your brother works at, I can’t see any reason to have CAT7 over CAT6 or CAT6a.

AyeAyeAhoy! · 24 Mar 2021 at 21:41

Yeah, CAT6 is fine, just make sure you get one with high MHz. Blackbox make some good 550mhz stuff which will happily take a full 10gbe connection

AyeAyeAhoy! · 24 Mar 2021 at 21:42

And forget shielding unless you're running it under plant machinery! It's just too much to terminate, not worth it

WJA96 · 24 Mar 2021 at 21:57

doug_1986 said:
Yeah, CAT6 is fine, just make sure you get one with high MHz. Blackbox make some good 550mhz stuff which will happily take a full 10gbe connection

If you do the maths, to do 10GbE over the 33m/100’ rated distance you don’t even need 250MHz, which is what CAT6 is rated.

By all means buy ‘special’ 550MHz cable but don’t be shocked when it doesn’t do anything extra over CAT6 250MHz.

AyeAyeAhoy! · 24 Mar 2021 at 21:59

WJA96 said:
If you do the maths, to do 10GbE over the 33m/100’ rated distance you don’t even need 250MHz, which is what CAT6 is rated.

By all means buy ‘special’ 550MHz cable but don’t be shocked when it doesn’t do anything extra over CAT6 250MHz.

Yeah sure thing, but the point is it's still CAT6 and at a normal price. No need for CAT7 or whatever.

AyeAyeAhoy! · 24 Mar 2021 at 22:02

I'm sure I saw cat 10 on a website the other day. Didn't think that was a thing

WJA96 · 24 Mar 2021 at 22:07

It’s like gold plated phono cables. Or that special hi-fi speaker cable that only dogs can hear the difference. It’s marketing. Gotta love marketing. “we made this special 550MHz CAT6 cable that doesn’t pass CAT6A certification but it’s better than 250MHz CAT6”. Or maybe you bought up a load of rejected CAT6A cable and tested the frequency throughput and made up a new marketing term. 550MHz CAT6. How is it any different to CAT8 or CAT10. It’s not a real standard. It’s a marketing term.

AyeAyeAhoy! · 24 Mar 2021 at 22:14

The point is in the price. I wasn't pony'ing up anything extra over any other CAT6 cable. Ok, a few £ extra for LSZH casing, but only about £5 on top per 300m. The gold plated nonsense and daft speaker cables all have one thing in common - a price hike.

All in t saying is the same as you - don't get suckered into paying for unnecessary

Cyber-Mav · 24 Mar 2021 at 22:31

doug_1986 said:
I'm sure I saw cat 10 on a website the other day. Didn't think that was a thing

Seen it too. There is no official spec beyond cat8 so dont know where cat9 and 10 are doing but i know what part of the world they are coming from.

WJA96 · 25 Mar 2021 at 04:45

doug_1986 said:
The point is in the price. I wasn't pony'ing up anything extra over any other CAT6 cable. Ok, a few £ extra for LSZH casing, but only about £5 on top per 300m. The gold plated nonsense and daft speaker cables all have one thing in common - a price hike.

All in t saying is the same as you - don't get suckered into paying for unnecessary

The only place I can find this 550MHz cable is Blackbox. They sell it under a different menu tree on their website from CAT6 called ‘Performance CAT6’ and I hate to break it to you, it’s quite a bit more expensive than their 250MHz CAT6. It’s marketing BS. They might as well call it CAT6 Unicorn grade, it would be as useful.

You’re saying “don’t get suckered into paying for unnecessary” and yet for the use case in the OP CAT5e would do. CAT6 would be a luxury. But you don’t recommend standard CAT6, you name Blackbox 550MHz CAT6 as the one “guaranteed to get you 10GbE”. Those two statements don’t stack up.

AyeAyeAhoy! · 25 Mar 2021 at 06:40

Well perhaps the price has gone up then since I bought them 7 years ago, bit I remember them being the same price as the basic stuff in TLC.

Avalon · 25 Mar 2021 at 09:02

doug_1986 said:
Yeah, CAT6 is fine, just make sure you get one with high MHz. Blackbox make some good 550mhz stuff which will happily take a full 10gbe connection

No. Non CCA 5e will do 10Gb over very similar lengths to 6, those lengths are likely to be the sort you’ll find in your average domestic install (without a separate guest/servants wing). Suggesting anyone needs to make sure it’s 550Mhz cat6 for 10Gb is - at best - foolish.

shiver · 25 Mar 2021 at 09:22

Need gold plated ends though, CAT7 16-karat at least!

/s

Joey44 · 19 Apr 2021 at 12:19

Hello, I'm very sorry to post a variation of a question that's already been asked a million times, I'm just a complete novice with all telecomms stuff. I did read the sticky which was very helpful, but was hoping someone could just confirm that I've got things correct.

I'm moving into a house with no phone line, Sky are arranging for Openreach to come and install it/the master socket. Ideally, it will go in the (converted) loft space. Would I be correct in thinking that I can use a Cat 6 cable to connect the master socket to my router downstairs? (dropping it through the ceiling). This is the option that would be easiest given the current cabling already in place in the house, I just want to make sure it would actually work? We don't have any special requirements in terms of Wifi/devices etc.

Also, if this is correct, should I purchase a Cat 6 cable with a plug thing on the end, or just the cable as it is?

Many thanks for your time!