Cat6 cable 305m Where should I buy from?

[jimseng]

This has to be a simple one but cat6 UTP for 1/10gb ethernet and RS485. On ebay a box of 305m white is £43.85. Is this poor quality? I'm just running Ethernet around my house build, nothing specific. I know cat6 isn't really RS485 impedance but at low data rates I think I'll get away with it. trying to save money on everything but I don't want to buy cheap from ebay if it is fake/rubbish. Any thoughts?

[-rick-]

£43 seems extremely cheap.

 

Here's some options for comparison:

 

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/store/cat6a-network-cable/cat6a-cable-reel-box/

 

I'd recommend using Cat6a rather than Cat6. Difference won't matter in most cases but if you want to run 10g or HDBase-T (HDMI over ethernet) then it might make the difference on longer/noisier runs and the price isn't hugely different.

 

I think cat6 will work fine for rs485 over the distances involved in a house.

 

 

 

 

[Mattg4321]

Thats extremely likely to be Copper Clad Aluminium (CCA). Keep away from that junk. You want solid copper or don't bother!

 

Decent quality Cat 6 is fine for 99.9% of domestic usage now and foreseeable future. Anything above that is like spending 500% the going rate when buying a SCART lead back in the day, because it had some fancy marketing.

[-rick-]

When this is only a bit more expensive than Cat6 and comes with LSZH and outdoor rating I'd go for this.

 

It's about 15p per metre more than standard Cat6 (from the same shop).

[Mattg4321]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a decision to spend extra for Cat 6a, but it's simply overkill for nearly all foreseeable uses in a domestic setting, with a few exceptions, generally for people who are really into 'tech'.

 

I've installed 10's of 000's of m of the stuff for clients, and although I don't get too involved in anything past that normally, I've never once heard an AV/security/smart etc installer say that cat 6 wasn't up to the task of what they needed it to do. In fact they often get Cat 5e to do what they need where existing cabling is in place. I personally can just think of better ways to spend my finite amount of money! If jim is on a tight budget it's highly likely Cat 6 will be more than good enough.

 

I pay roughly 50% more for Cat 6a over Cat 6 at trade prices, for good quality cable. Cat 6 can easily be found at around £105+vat from a quick google, which is only slightly more than I am getting it for.

[jimseng]

Thanks. I had forgotten about the cca aspect. That's why I asked, I thought it was too cheap on ebay.

[-rick-]

3 minutes ago, Mattg4321 said:

with a few exceptions, generally for people who are really into 'tech'.

Agree with this.

 

Jim mentioned his interest in 10gb ethernet and I took that as tech interested. That in itself will probably be ok with cat 6 in most cases but for the little uplift 6a buys you more room for suboptimal install/placement. There is already a 25GBase-T standard. Not very available yet but will be in the life of the building. 10 gigabit is already quite slow compared to modern storage* so if you do tech stuff in general or specifically do stuff related to video (wannabe youtuber, etc) then I can see you wanting to upgrade to 25g when it's available to consumers.

 

*1GB/sec. SSDs can usually do 5GB/s now, latest Macbook they are claiming upto 14GB/s

 

3 minutes ago, Mattg4321 said:

I've installed 10's of 000's of m of the stuff for clients, and although I don't get too involved in anything past that normally, I've never once heard an AV/security/smart etc installer say that cat 6 wasn't up to the task of what they needed it to do. In fact they often get Cat 5e to do what they need where existing cabling is in place. I personally can just think of better ways to spend my finite amount of money! If jim is on a tight budget it's highly likely Cat 6 will be more than good enough.

Cat 6 is fine for in a home for what is available now. But again, what you put in your walls you hope will last for decades so spending a little more now makes sense to me.

 

TBC Cat7 is a complete waste of money and bigger number is not better here.

[garrymartin]

CAT6 will do 10Gbps so long as the cable isn't very long (37-55m max generally).

 

You can't go wrong with TruHD Cat 6 HDBaseT Cable - tested to 500MHz, so good for 10Gbps if needed.

 

Details and pricing - https://www.fscables.com/products/cat-6-hdbaset.html

Datasheet - https://www.fscables.com/sites/admin/plugins/elfinder/files/fscables/Datasheets/C6T00-E00.pdf