Cat6 bulk for wiring a house

K

KuJaX

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jan 8, 2001
Messages
15,778
I've always bought my ethernet, HDMI and audio cables from monoprice in the past.

Upon researching the new standards (cat6, cat6a, etc) it seems like there is a whole slew of "new" online retailers that focus exclusively on cables. Their prices seem to be more than monoprice which has me scratching my head if it is simply them being marketing companies or if they are offering a superior product.

Where are you buying your Cat6 bulk cabling and more importantly, why?
 
I bought mine from a local supplier, online seems to be hit or miss on quality.

When i renovated my house i did conduit runs to everyroom and the attic so i can upgrade if needed
 
Maybe the rolls are cheaper now, but 5 years ago when I finished my basement it was 10x cheaper and easier to just buy premade cat 7 cables on Amazon.
 
last time i bought a box, i just grabbed it at home despot. wasnt the fancy in-wall stuff though...
 
Without links it's hard to say. I'm assuming (hoping) these aren't audiophool retailers.

It's certainly possible the more expensive stuff is better quality. Tougher jacketing, thicker gauge wire, riser vs plenum rated, etc. It may be that Monoprice simply buys/sells more and is able to get better pricing from its suppliers. Is the Monoprice stuff full copper or copper-clad aluminum?
 
BlueLineSwinger said:
Without links it's hard to say. I'm assuming (hoping) these aren't audiophool retailers.

It's certainly possible the more expensive stuff is better quality. Tougher jacketing, thicker gauge wire, riser vs plenum rated, etc. It may be that Monoprice simply buys/sells more and is able to get better pricing from its suppliers. Is the Monoprice stuff full copper or copper-clad aluminum?
Click to expand...

Unless I recall mistakenly CAT6 by definition must be AWG 23 or 24. Anything else would not be CAT6 and would likely have issues using connectors engineered for 23 or 24 gage wire.

Full copper vs copper clad is another big price impact. My preference, read requirement, is full copper. That said, I've never seen a case where it mattered. The cost savings could be worth it but, I'll never know. :)
 
Nicklebon said:
Full copper vs copper clad is another big price impact. My preference, read requirement, is full copper. That said, I've never seen a case where it mattered. The cost savings could be worth it but, I'll never know. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah I'll also only do full copper. At the scale of a single home any additional cost is minimal.

For just passing an ethernet signal CCA is usually OK, but once you get into power-over-ethernet full copper is practically a requirement to reduce losses over the runs.
 
This is what I'm looking at:

Monorprice Cat6 500ft Blue CMR UL Bulk Cable, Solid (w/spine), UTP, 23AWG, 550MHz, Pure Bare Copper, Pull Box, Bulk Ethernet Cable
It is $69 which is less than 14 cents a foot.

Truecable Cat6 500ft Blue CMR, UTP, 23AWG, 550MHz, Bare Copper, Riser Ethernet Cable
This is $130. Nearly twice as much. 26 cents a foot.

I'll be buying 6 or so of these to pull wires and so we are talking about a ~$350 difference which is absolutely nothing in comparison to the cost of other construction line items but at the same time who wants to waste $350 for the same product?

Thoughts?
 
Only substantial difference I can see is the Monoprice is UL listed, which is a big plus. I guess they simply have economies of scale working in their favor.

Only reason I can see to go with the Truecable stuff is if you really want a rainbow of cable colors in your walls or want to make mini tables out of the wire spools they appear to come on.
 
If you're at a stage where you're dropping in conduit and pulling new runs, just pull fiber and call it good.
 
pendragon1 said:
one is a brand name, one isnt. get the monoprice stuff and dont over think it?
Click to expand...
What one is brand name? Is Truecable really a "brand"?

I'm happy to pay more if there is more. If I am just buying from a retailer because they have a better UI on their website and a more professional spool then I'm not so interested in this specific use case.
 
Eulogy said:
If you're at a stage where you're dropping in conduit and pulling new runs, just pull fiber and call it good.
Click to expand...
^^THIS^^

But ONLY if you're in an area where your ISP offers (or will soon) FiberToTheHome (FTTH - ACTUAL/REAL fiber optic connections all the way from their main service location into your house) AND you have or can buy/rent/borrow the termination & splicing tools, which are totally different from those used for ethernet..

Otherwise, stick with real pure copper (NO CCA), save some $$ and be happy with Cat6e everywhere :D

I've bought lots of stuff from Monoprice, which generally has a good reputation for quality products at reasonable prices, but if you can be certain to get the same quality at better prices, then go for it...and YES, if you need a large amount (which you would need for doing the whole house), it is almost always cheaper to get in bulk rolls/boxes...
 
dogDAbone said:
^^THIS^^

But ONLY if you're in an area where your ISP offers (or will soon) FiberToTheHome (FTTH - ACTUAL/REAL fiber optic connections all the way from their main service location into your house) AND you have or can buy/rent/borrow the termination & splicing tools, which are totally different from those used for ethernet..

Otherwise, stick with real pure copper (NO CCA), save some $$ and be happy with Cat6e everywhere :D

I've bought lots of stuff from Monoprice, which generally has a good reputation for quality products at reasonable prices, but if you can be certain to get the same quality at better prices, then go for it...and YES, if you need a large amount (which you would need for doing the whole house), it is almost always cheaper to get in bulk rolls/boxes...
Click to expand...
Structured wiring has nothing to with what your ISP is bringing in.
Your main switch will have SFP+ and RJ45 ports. Use the SFP+s to run drops (OM3 or OM4, LC-LC) to each room/area in the house, and either drop them into wall plates, or switches there.That'll carry you clear up to 100G, which should be plenty for awhile.

If you end up with fiber from your ISP, the ONT will most likely hand off copper, so you'd just plug into one of the RJ45 ports in your switch. If they hand off fiber, plug into an SFP+. If you end up with cable or whatever from ISP, just take the copper from them and drop it in.

Of course, it will be more expensive... but you'll won't have to think about it again, like I said, til you want >100G. Also benefit of running cooler, and smaller runs, too.
 
sharknice said:
Maybe the rolls are cheaper now, but 5 years ago when I finished my basement it was 10x cheaper and easier to just buy premade cat 7 cables on Amazon.
Click to expand...
Cheaper, but those will be CCA not solid copper. They can catch fire if used for POE


I've had great luck with fastcat cable from Amazon
 
dogDAbone said:
^^THIS^^

But ONLY if you're in an area where your ISP offers (or will soon) FiberToTheHome (FTTH - ACTUAL/REAL fiber optic connections all the way from their main service location into your house) AND you have or can buy/rent/borrow the termination & splicing tools, which are totally different from those used for ethernet..

Otherwise, stick with real pure copper (NO CCA), save some $$ and be happy with Cat6e everywhere :D

I've bought lots of stuff from Monoprice, which generally has a good reputation for quality products at reasonable prices, but if you can be certain to get the same quality at better prices, then go for it...and YES, if you need a large amount (which you would need for doing the whole house), it is almost always cheaper to get in bulk rolls/boxes...
Click to expand...
Just buy long fiber runs from FS.com, pre-terminated. that is what I did. Really easy to run, as well. I did SMF, but some prefer MMF.
 
Eulogy said:
Structured wiring has nothing to with what your ISP is bringing in.
Your main switch will have SFP+ and RJ45 ports. Use the SFP+s to run drops (OM3 or OM4, LC-LC) to each room/area in the house, and either drop them into wall plates, or switches there.That'll carry you clear up to 100G, which should be plenty for awhile.

If you end up with fiber from your ISP, the ONT will most likely hand off copper, so you'd just plug into one of the RJ45 ports in your switch. If they hand off fiber, plug into an SFP+. If you end up with cable or whatever from ISP, just take the copper from them and drop it in.

Of course, it will be more expensive... but you'll won't have to think about it again, like I said, til you want >100G. Also benefit of running cooler, and smaller runs, too.
Click to expand...

I think pulling fiber only to all drops is most likely going to add expense and hassle. Lots of my equipment can't even do 1G, but with fiber only, I'm going to need a media converter or a sfp capable switch on every tv. For computers with pci-e slots, sfp+ nics going to a sfp+ switch is going to be great. For printers, streaming boxes, access points, video game consoles, etc, none of those are going to want to talk fiber right now. Maybe access points, but I don't think I've seen any, nicer access points are 2.5/5G with PoE... maybe 10G-BaseT, but probably not.
 
toast0 said:
I think pulling fiber only to all drops is most likely going to add expense and hassle. Lots of my equipment can't even do 1G, but with fiber only, I'm going to need a media converter or a sfp capable switch on every tv. For computers with pci-e slots, sfp+ nics going to a sfp+ switch is going to be great. For printers, streaming boxes, access points, video game consoles, etc, none of those are going to want to talk fiber right now. Maybe access points, but I don't think I've seen any, nicer access points are 2.5/5G with PoE... maybe 10G-BaseT, but probably not.
Click to expand...
Expense, yeah a bit. Hassle? Not really. It's easier to pull fiber than copper.
You don't have to run fiber to every end device. In fact I wouldn't - I'd just do fiber for the structured wiring, then whatever is best application for the end device from there.
I put these in each room to terminate the fiber and handle device connectivity:
https://mikrotik.com/product/crs305_1g_4s_in

But if you (or OP) want to pull copper, and likely in a decade~ be pulling again, that's fine too :)
 
I just helped a good friend wire his house and tried to talk him into doing conduit runs but he didnt want the extra cost associated with it since he isnt planning on keeping the house more then 3-5 years so we did all cat6e runs except we did 1 fiber run from his office/ gaming room back to the rack and ran 1 conduit from basement into attic just incase more was needed.
 
I just bought a 1000ft spool of truecable Cat6a SSTP when the price dropped on amazon and did my entire house with that. Worked great and was pretty straightforward (other than the rando spacetime twist between the basement and the ground floor), especially if you have the tools and a fluke.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top