decorative Cat 6 LAN cables

[Adsibob]

I need a couple of 2m LAN cables that are going to be very prominently installed somewhere. There appear to be plenty of companies offering 3 core electrical cable in all manner of fabric finishes, but the only one I have found that does ethernet cable is a company that does this: https://www.creative-cables.co.uk/5-fabric-cables/s-1/subcategories-lan_cables but the fabric colours are not right and in any case they only do Cat5E which is obviously going to slow things down.

 

 

 

[jayc89]

1 hour ago, Adsibob said:

I need a couple of 2m LAN cables that are going to be very prominently installed somewhere. There appear to be plenty of companies offering 3 core electrical cable in all manner of fabric finishes, but the only one I have found that does ethernet cable is a company that does this: https://www.creative-cables.co.uk/5-fabric-cables/s-1/subcategories-lan_cables but the fabric colours are not right and in any case they only do Cat5E which is obviously going to slow things down.

 

 

 

Can't really help with the original question, but CAT5E (and CAT6) is good for up to 1Gbps. The average broadband speed in the UK is 79.1 Mbps (or 0.0791 Gbps) so there's still plenty of mileage in it too. 

Unless you plan on operating a data centre from your house, you'll see no benefit from CAT6E or higher.

[Adsibob]

14 minutes ago, jayc89 said:

Can't really help with the original question, but CAT5E (and CAT6) is good for up to 1Gbps. The average broadband speed in the UK is 79.1 Mbps (or 0.0791 Gbps) so there's still plenty of mileage in it too. 

Unless you plan on operating a data centre from your house, you'll see no benefit from CAT6E or higher.

My connection speed is 350 Mbps with a 40Mbps upload. I regularly need to upload and download several GBs of files, and doing video calls at the same time. So don’t really want bottlenecks anywhere. 

[ProDave]

4 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

My connection speed is 350 Mbps with a 40Mbps upload. I regularly need to upload and download several GBs of files, and doing video calls at the same time. So don’t really want bottlenecks anywhere. 

Lucky you.  Try managing with 3MBPS on a good day.

[jayc89]

2 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

My connection speed is 350 Mbps with a 40Mbps upload. I regularly need to upload and download several GBs of files, and doing video calls at the same time. So don’t really want bottlenecks anywhere. 

 

Your bottleneck would still be your broadband. Even at 350Mbps you're only at 35% capacity of a 1Gbps (CAT5E) LAN.

What spec router do you have from your broadband company? Most provided still only come with a 1Gbps port too. 

[Temp]

Get someone to sew up some fabric tubes? 

[SteamyTea]

If you know what fabric you want to use, buy a roll of cable, and get a seamstress to make up some fabric tubes. Then feed the cable through them. Terminate with the RJ plugs.

 

Cross post with @Temp

Edited April 26, 2022 by SteamyTea

[PeterW]

Video calls use very little bandwidth due to the codec used to transmit/receive. Even 4K streaming only uses 25Mbps so you’ll not hit the Cat5 limit. If you’re really desperate then go with pure copper not CCA but short distances it will not impact. The slowest point will be the router or the switch - a lot of the provider routers also only priorities QoS on the WiFi so unless you have carrier grade switching you’re not going to have an issue. 

[Adsibob]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

Video calls use very little bandwidth due to the codec used to transmit/receive. Even 4K streaming only uses 25Mbps so you’ll not hit the Cat5 limit. If you’re really desperate then go with pure copper not CCA but short distances it will not impact. The slowest point will be the router or the switch - a lot of the provider routers also only priorities QoS on the WiFi so unless you have carrier grade switching you’re not going to have an issue. 

Interesting. But isn’t another benefit of Cat6 that they are better at handling interference than Cat5e cables? I’m not sure what kind of interference I might experience in this particular situation, maybe none?

[dpmiller]

none worth speaking of. We've been stringing 50-100m cat5s round car bodyshops with 3-phase starters and inverter welders and never seen a problem. Now wifi OTOH...

[Radian]

How's about you make your own cables with some CAT6, RJ45 connectors and a crimp tool. Either strip down some fabric covered 3-core or try and source a braid you like but either way sleeve it over the CAT6 and bob's your uncle - or is he your nephew?

[PeterW]

19 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

Interesting. But isn’t another benefit of Cat6 that they are better at handling interference than Cat5e cables? I’m not sure what kind of interference I might experience in this particular situation, maybe none?

braided or shielded Cat5E FTP is equally as good at stopping interference but tbh the packet management in the network devices manages that for you anyway. As @dpmiller says you can run some pretty hairy things near Cat cabling and it doesn’t notice. 

[reddal]

On 26/04/2022 at 19:03, Adsibob said:

My connection speed is 350 Mbps with a 40Mbps upload. I regularly need to upload and download several GBs of files, and doing video calls at the same time. So don’t really want bottlenecks anywhere. 

 

I recently got a 500mbit fibre connection. Even with devices directly connected with 1Gbit ethernet its hard to max it out on a single device. Switches and other bottlenecks tend to get in the way.

 

And if one device could max it out - it probably wouldn't be a good thing - i.e. someone sets off a big download and it would kill the internet for all other users.

 

CAT 6 or higher is a good idea for future proofing - so in 20 years time you should still be fine - but I don't think its really needed today.

[Onoff]

Decorative Cat 6 LAN cables...1st world problems eh! 😂

 

Decorative heatshrink?

[Roys]

My mate is an upholster, I can see a business opportunity 😀

[SteamyTea]

Cotton reel and some nails. Used to make these when I as a kid.

 

[Nickfromwales]

On 26/04/2022 at 22:32, dpmiller said:

none worth speaking of. We've been stringing 50-100m cat5s round car bodyshops with 3-phase starters and inverter welders and never seen a problem. Now wifi OTOH...

Real world experience always brings these chats back down to earth. 
When I was installing comms for Panasonic we’d regularly be on solicitors / doctors / cooperate settings, and I’d drop a false ceiling tile and the rats nest of data / phone / mains would be like a spider web. Everything still working perfectly with zero segregation, or less. 
 

We do strive for the immaculate, just a little to much sometimes.

[Adsibob]

5 hours ago, Roys said:

My mate is an upholster, I can see a business opportunity 😀

I want some credit for the (half) idea. Joint venture partners?

[Adsibob]

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

Real world experience always brings these chats back down to earth. 
When I was installing comms for Panasonic we’d regularly be on solicitors / doctors / cooperate settings, and I’d drop a false ceiling tile and the rats nest of data / phone / mains would be like a spider web. Everything still working perfectly with zero segregation, or less. 
 

We do strive for the immaculate, just a little to much sometimes.

Indeed. I think this has been my main problem on my build. I’mroo much of a perfectionist and control freak for my own good, and lose sight of what’s important. I think I will just get the CAT5E cable. It will be 2m of CAT5E patched to 16m of CAT6, so can’t see it making a huge difference. And I’ve got 10 to 20 years to knit that cover for when the “future” arrives and we are all streaming 256k content