sourcing cat6

[Phillcbr400]

Doing an install of cat6 at home, looking around the net, prices vary from £35 to £500. Shielded and solid would be better for me as it will come within a foot of 230v at a couple of points and being terminate in outlets and a patch panel. Looking for a 305m reel. How much should I be paying for it without getting ripped off or buying cr&p. also no sure what makes are better to use.
thanks for any help

 

[chrish_1977]

I would try cat 5, cat6 is just shielded

 

[Phillcbr400]

You can get either shielded. Cat6 has a greater bandwidth than cat5e.

 

[ian.settle1]

Why do you need cat 6, cat 5E should be enough for a home network

 

[Phillcbr400]

Just future proofing I've already read the million threads around the net regarding no need to run cat6 yet. Plus if anything its more for convenience of hdmi to cat6 converters and USB converters etc I am a newbie to all this stuff to any advice is always welcome.

 

[snowhead]

They used to say they'd never get more than 56k down copper phone cables.
Mine B.B is running at 8meg down 25yr old copper.

Future proofing isn't always needed.

 

[rmc86uk]

and mine at 30Mb!

 

[Phillcbr400]

I decided on cat6 for the file transfer rate aswell being quicker between devices.
Has anyone got any advice regarding prices, makes and places to buy from?
Appreciate the input

 

[UNG]

Are you really going to notice the difference between Cat6 and the slower Cat5E. For future proofing why not run in some fibre optic cable should keep you well ahead of the game

 

[grahamhinton]

Hi Phil,

there are obviously many outlets for this cable, but I tend to use a few such as Comtec direct, Mayflex, Mills ltd, Minitran, as they all do next day delivery.

good idea to future proof the property, as you tend to do cabling as few times as possible....I'm reading 25 years plus above!....so go ahead with your plan...the secret is now to over engineer the job as this would just be a waste and not give 'value engineering '. Which is a term that seems to be I merging in the industry.

cat5 e shielded would be fine for your home network if 1 gig is all that the manufacture's of PC's and gaming devices are planning on giving us for the foreseeable future, but I suspect within five years we will see 10 gig gaming machines for home network use. and possibly 10 gig NIC ' s. ( network interface cards).

The shielded modules and patching panels are easy to terminate and the sales teams are usually please to get you on a free training day for their products.

good luck with it!

graham Hinton

 

[Phillcbr400]

Thanks for the info graham I'd rather spend the extra knowing the materials I've installed are good for what they say they are, and going to a reputable source is always a good start. I've only touched on terminating during the training for my AM2, so I can only learn more by doing abit more training. Better off doing it right first time.
Thanks again and much appreciated

 

[UNG]

Hi Phil,

there are obviously many outlets for this cable, but I tend to use a few such as Comtec direct, Mayflex, Mills ltd, Minitran, as they all do next day delivery.

good idea to future proof the property, as you tend to do cabling as few times as possible....I'm reading 25 years plus above!....so go ahead with your plan...the secret is now to over engineer the job as this would just be a waste and not give 'value engineering '. Which is a term that seems to be I merging in the industry.

cat5 e shielded would be fine for your home network if 1 gig is all that the manufacture's of PC's and gaming devices are planning on giving us for the foreseeable future, but I suspect within five years we will see 10 gig gaming machines for home network use. and possibly 10 gig NIC ' s. ( network interface cards).

The shielded modules and patching panels are easy to terminate and the sales teams are usually please to get you on a free training day for their products.

good luck with it!

graham Hinton

A very interesting post that certainly gives food for thought

You quote 25 years + as future proofing but suggest in 5 years we will possibly be at the 10 Gig limit of Cat6A cable so we appear to have minimal options to provide any long term (20+ years) cable solution.

Based on your predictions and the speed technology is moving on the only sure method of providing future proofing is to lay ducts / conduits to all outlet points from accessible positions to allow for easy cable upgrades in the future as I don't see wireless ever reliably achieving the data throughput required at the multi gigabit level

 

[Phillcbr400]

already ahead of you on the conduit side of things. Technology is only move forward when manufacturing it become viable. Like everything it's all down to the pennies.

 

[telectrix]

try cpc farnell.

 

[UNG]

already ahead of you on the conduit side of things. Technology is only move forward when manufacturing it become viable. Like everything it's all down to the pennies.

The manufacturing of the latest technology will always have 2 speeds those that will have it at any cost and those that will buy at a price that suits their budget. Those who pay the at any price for technology will always have an advantage over the latter as generally when it becomes viable to the masses it is already old technology and the manufacturers are just making the most out of it they can