Which cable do I need?

JW1993 · 28 Aug 2011 at 15:29

There seems to be a load of cables on the market and I'm not sure which one I need. I'll need about 20m I think and it is going from my pc to my router. Is it just a standard Cat5e cable I need or what is the difference between that and a patch cable?

Thanks

Dist · 28 Aug 2011 at 15:35

Cat5e is fine, the difference between a straight-through and a crossover cable are only the order of the wires in the connectors at each end. Unless you are using devices that are a decade old they will have Auto-MDIX, which means that it doesn't matter if the cable is wired up as straight-through or crossover, the devices can adjust themselves as needed.

Cat5e will be perfectly fine for 1 Gb/s speeds, so that will be perfectly fine, the only thing to consider is shielded or unshield, but unless you plan to run the cable right next to a mains power line for a long distance then unshielded (UTP) cat5e is fine.

JW1993 · 28 Aug 2011 at 15:40

Well the cable is going from the loft, down a floor to the router. There is no performance decrease with a shielded cable I take it? Because I'll just get one in case.

d_brennen · 28 Aug 2011 at 15:46

Don't pay a fortune for fancy cable over a 20m run, a few quid will do it. Purple shirt place want £30 for a 15m ethernet cable, I didn't dare look for longer lol

Hyburnate · 28 Aug 2011 at 15:47

I think a patch cable is just a long cable no ends xD

bremen1874 · 28 Aug 2011 at 17:46

A 'network cable' and a 'patch cable' are just different names for the same thing. This is normally a length of stranded cable with a RJ45 plug on each end.

If you installing wiring between faceplates you'd normally buy bulk unterminated solid core cable.

Magic_x_uk · 28 Aug 2011 at 20:36

yes if you are fixing it in place. Get SOLID cat5e cable. Fix cat5e RJ45 wall sockets. May make life easier for you.

with stranded cat5e you cannot really use IDC punchdowns effectively.

I did this recently and the guys on here said for fixed install use SOLID, RJ45 plugs onto stranded.

MarkA · 29 Aug 2011 at 12:38

Magic_x_uk said:
yes if you are fixing it in place. Get SOLID cat5e cable. Fix cat5e RJ45 wall sockets. May make life easier for you.

with stranded cat5e you cannot really use IDC punchdowns effectively.

I did this recently and the guys on here said for fixed install use SOLID, RJ45 plugs onto stranded.

This.

Little sockets only cost a few quid each and can be screwed to the wall.

You can also by 350ft reels of these cables for about 30quid.

I got them all over the house.