Bulk Cat 6 cable

[Neilk]

Hello,

I am going to add some ethernet outlets to our new house and wanted the braintrust's opinion on what bulk Cat6 cable to buy. Does anyone have a preferred brand or place to buy it?

I prefer the braintrust to some random opinion piece I find on Google.

Thanks,
Neil

[biosurfer1]

I buy most of my stuff at monoprice.com

[stealthn]

Plenum or non-plenum rated?

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Plenum or non-plenum rated?

What do I want? I had not considered plenum vs non-plenum.

Which of the 4 options should I get?


Any thoughts on one?

[stomachmonkey]

[stealthn]

Well the other difference is if you are running on or over heating ducts you need plenum rated. I didn't even know you could get stranded 6e cable. You also need different crimpers or die's for solid core versus stranded core cables. Unless you need 6e for something specific, 5e is fine for almost all applications, and usually cheaper.

Are you running voice or 10G?

We get all our bulk cables through distributors - if you have a company you can register with a lot of electrical suppliers and get better pricing. We use mostly General Cable bulk cabling now and have had great results. A good tester is important as well to certify the crimps and pins.

[Lapkritis]

Do you have a network closet yet? I would recommend a switch centrally located... depending on how you're pulling it/environment, consider shielded type. 1000FT roll can be had under $100... avoid CCA type if you can but it will cost a bit more. My concern is future tech when selecting a cable for home. Realistically, our tech is moving more to wireless but home networking seems to be normalizing with wifi/some work stations hardwired. Lots more considerations when you begin a home wired network plan - pulling cables for security cameras etc may be prudent.

[stomachmonkey]

Just fyi, if you already have coax where you want to drop Ethernet you can go with MOCA adapters.

A pricier option but may be worth it in leue of pulling cable which is something I generally try to avoid in residential environments.

[Rot 911]

I'm sure this will be a stupid question, but why not just go with a wireless network for the home? That's all I have in my home and have no complaints.

[Neilk]

I went ahead and bought some cable from Monoprice.

I know we can do wifi for most of it, but I would like to hard wire some things such as AppleTVs, smart TVs and anything else so that I don't have to worry about the WiFi network getting bogged down. Probably would never happen, but why not. The walls are open right now.

[wildthing]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

I'm sure this will be a stupid question, but why not just go with a wireless network for the home? That's all I have in my home and have no complaints.

When I test my speed (ookla.com), the speed on wireless drops to half. 21Mbps to 10. Sometimes 6. Other customers experience the same thing.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Neilk

....The walls are open right now.

If the walls are open take advantage of it and sling cable everywhere.

I'd put a drop next to each electrical socket.

Run cable and power for cameras as well.

Pisses me off that I missed that opportunity when we built.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

I'm sure this will be a stupid question, but why not just go with a wireless network for the home? That's all I have in my home and have no complaints.

Congrats. Wireless works well and can be fine, but wired is better for some things (things that won't be moving or benefit from more bandwidth) if you can manage it. Wired is probably going to be faster, more stable and more secure.

[356racing]

Good advice above. I would use solid core plenum in my home. I would also recommend running non-metallic flex tubing to as many locations as practical. This will allow you to pull new cable as technology evolves.

[osidak]

Please ignore the video above - that guy is just about clueless

he is comparing stranded vs solid core and that does not make a plenum cable. Plenum is basically a fire rating (how quick the jacket burns and also the fumes given off) - You want to use plenum anytime fumes can easily enter hvac distribution systems and also in case where a quick burning cable can help with the spread of a fire. This is dictated by your local fire codes

The extra "string" or fiber in a cable (in all but the cheapest cable) is there to aid in reducing stretch when pulling long runs. oh and ++++++ to running conduit to each room and while you are in there at least one draw string for future expansion.

CCA - copper clad aluminum - you do want to avoid this at all cost. Short runs are fine with this stuff but longer runs can get real funky. Not worth the small cost savings