Questions on which cat5/6 cable to buy

[brandonkick]

I'm looking at setting up some cabling in my new house, and I want to get some
good solid core copper cable. I'm thinking mainly because one of them is going
to be PoE (passive) for my Ubiquiti Unifi AP and mainly I haven't read much about
CCA cables being recommended.


So at this point, I'm thinking of just going with Cat5e and not worry about Cat6.
I don't really need anything beyond gigabit, and the runs will not be long. Most
will be less than 40 to 60 feet with 80 being an absolute max and I doubt even
that long.

I'm just looking for the best price, especially if the recommendation is to indeed
stay away from CCA cable. Looks to be easily over 10 cents a foot in most of the
places I've looked so far. I was thinking I would be able to pick up a 1000 ft spool
under $100 but that seems to be wishful thinking. Any recommendations?

I'm also thinking about only running a single drop for just the Unifi AP. I don't need
to have wired connections if I can get >50 Mbps from the wifi. Moving this thing to
the center of the house would provide strong connection and >50 Mbps all over the
house. If I can pick up a 1000ft spool under $100 and it's good quality solid copper
than I'll do that... if not I'll just buy enough to run for the AP.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Hard to beat monoprice.com
yeah 5e is fine...should be able to pick one up for 55-65 bucks.

 

[Markverhyden]

I try to support my local stores first, then big box, then online. Just a matter of principle I guess. You can get Cat5e Riser from HD for under $100. My local electronics store has it for a little less. From testing I see that Cat5e tests the same as Cat6 over shorter distances, say under 200'. Personally I stay away from CCA. It's not like the price differential between copper and CCA is 500%.

 

[Moltuae]

Not sure what the regulations are in the US but I usually specify LSZH cable. Usually comes with a purple jacket in the UK, like this. Certainly for home use, whether regulatory or not, I think it's probably a good idea to use cables that produce less toxic fumes in a fire.

 

[fencepost]

In the US, I wouldn't be surprised if LSZH (which I'd never heard of) is not considered an acceptable substitute for Plenum rated cable - it may be better given its intended purpose and usage, but it may still not be to code.

 

[NETWizz]

If you are running it in air duct-work it needs to be plenum rated cable otherwise it depends on local code. Either way you want a solid-core cable.

Generally rule of thumb is CAT5 does NOT do Gigabit (on paper), CAT5e does Gigabit, but do NOT expect it to work properly for long runs when you have PoE or PoE+ on it too, CAT6 is great for Gigabit and PoE and PoE+ out to 100 meters and it can do 10 Gibabit to 33 meters. CAT6a does 10 Gigabit to 100 meters.

Simply put, from the sounds of things although you can get away with CAT5e, you really want CAT6.

If you want to future-proof go CAT6a.


1000' of CAT6 UTP is only $80 at Monoprice vs $54 for CAT5e. The cost difference is negligable

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Generally rule of thumb is CAT5 does NOT do Gigabit (on paper), CAT5e does Gigabit,

"On paper"...the gigabit standard was written with CAT5 as the minimum. It's splitting hairs...and we all agree that 5e and 6 are better, especially for longer runs, and there's no sense in going out to buy CAT5 now since 5e and even 6 now is quite cheap (not much more expensive).
But technically, if we're going to use the words "on paper"...to be correct, CAT5 does support gigabit at 100 MHz, as the gigabit standard was written to utilize all 4 pair of CAT5.

Many years ago, the majority of CAT5 cables being produced did actually satisfy/meet CAT5e specs. But since 5e came out, and was "newer"...the very same CAT5 cable was labeled as 5e and sold at much higher prices. And terminators/ends...same thing with marketing ripoff pricing.

 

[NETWizz]

"On paper"...the gigabit standard was written with CAT5 as the minimum. It's splitting hairs...and we all agree that 5e and 6 are better, especially for longer runs, and there's no sense in going out to buy CAT5 now since 5e and even 6 now is quite cheap (not much more expensive).
But technically, if we're going to use the words "on paper"...to be correct, CAT5 does support gigabit at 100 MHz, as the gigabit standard was written to utilize all 4 pair of CAT5.

Many years ago, the majority of CAT5 cables being produced did actually satisfy/meet CAT5e specs. But since 5e came out, and was "newer"...the very same CAT5 cable was labeled as 5e and sold at much higher prices. And terminators/ends...same thing with marketing ripoff pricing.

While you are not wrong, 10Base-T and 100Base-T use only two pairs, where Gigabit uses all four pairs, which without doubt are present in CAT5. The problem is that CAT5 the standard (not necessarily the cable) is not rated to run at GigE speeds. This does not mean that some CAT5 cable did not exceed the standards, and it will almost certainly work for short runs. The situation is when you get large bundles of them and do long, near100 meter runs. Suddenly you end up with cross-talk and all sorts of nasty things when you try to run Gigabit on CAT5. It might work, but no guarantees.

In contrast CAT5e is pretty much guaranteed to run GigE no problem to 100 meters.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Oh I agree 5e is better..and 6 is better. I'm not saying go out and save money and try to find old old leftover CAT5 for super cheap.
And I know 10 and 100 only use 2 pair hence why I mentioned (above) that CAT5 for gigabit uses 4 pair. Up to 100 meters..yes. Well, "technically" 90 meters...because it's assumed you'll have 1x 5' stranded patch cord on each end. But most people state 100 meters even though it's technically 90 plus the pair-o-fives.

But it's actually something that is widely misunderstood. CAT 5 the standard was not rated for gig...because when the standard was written for CAT5 (1991)...gig wasn't on the immediate horizon. So of course the CAT5 standard doesn't specifically state it will run gigabit.

But on the flipside...the gigabit standard was written much later (1999) to support CAT5..and above. The gigabit standard was written AFTER the CAT5 standard.

The standard for CAT5, TIA/EIA-568, came out in 1991
The standard for gigabit, 802.3ab, came out in 1999

...hence why so much confusion...it depends on which book you read.
Added info, TIA/EIA put out standards with the goal of having a life span of 10 years. When I say life span, I don't mean of the cable, I mean of building/construction standards. Things like running data wiring, you want to have something be "the standard" for a long time...if you're spending that kind of money to outfit a building.

Gigabit came out at the 9th years of the life span of original CAT5.
When the 10 year anniversary arrived...2001, gigabit had been out and in use for 2 years on old CAT5, but they revised/updated the standard to further futureproof cables, for another 10 year life expectancy. So guess when CAT5e came out? That's right...2001....10 years after the CAT5 standard at 1991.

 

[brandonkick]

Lots of interesting reading for sure!

I do not play on using this to transfer large amounts of
data between machines, thus it throws out the usability
of pretty much anything over gigabit. My current wired
connection speeds are only about 200 Mbps give or take
from my ISP. I only care that I can get that wired and
whatever I get wireless is gravy. Right now I get at least
50 Mbps everywhere in my house with a much less than
optimal placement of my AP (on 2.4ghz)

I will probably just go cat5e. I'll look at the cost of plenum
rated but it will not be going inside air ducts or near air ducts.
If the cost is roughly the same, I'll get the plenum rated. I
probably will use less than 250' of the spool myself, and it
makes it more usable for any job I might do in the future.

 

[jzukerman]

I like General Cable, Hitachi Cable (made in the USA), Superior Essex, and Commscope. My electrical supply house carries Hitachi so that's what I've been using. Pricey, but just fricken works and a joy to work with. Solid core CAT5e and plenum CAT6 (doesn't have the plastic spacer though) is what I've installed for clients.

I recommend staying away from that Home Despot Southwire brand, really junky cable, outside jacket is weak. Same for Coleman Cable.