Cheapest Place for Cat5e or Cat6 Spools

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Lugztaz

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 21, 2004
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Where would you guys buy from? Also where do you buy your ends from? I got some from newegg but i dont like them because they have the little things that go into the actual ends. :cool:
 
I bought my last spool of Cat5e and RJ45 connectors from Menard's (chain hardware store in the MidWest). Try Home Depot, Lowe's, etc... (check by the telephone cable). The prices at a big hardware store on Cat5e are about the same as what you can find at any electronics store, and the shipping tends to get you when ordering online.

Plus, in my case, I could go to the store and pick it up, and it was a lot closer than the nearest Best Buy/Circuit City.
 
I would go to an electrical/datacom supply house like Anixter, Graybar, Wesco, or Rexel.
 
Earp said:
I bought my last spool of Cat5e and RJ45 connectors from Menard's (chain hardware store in the MidWest). Try Home Depot, Lowe's, etc... (check by the telephone cable). The prices at a big hardware store on Cat5e are about the same as what you can find at any electronics store, and the shipping tends to get you when ordering online.

Plus, in my case, I could go to the store and pick it up, and it was a lot closer than the nearest Best Buy/Circuit City.
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yea, that's where i had my last spool from, MEnards. :) :D Now that i think of it i know a guy or i guess it's my moms cusin, he works for Time Warner Cable :) Maby he can get me some for cheap :D
 
Any electronics supply store. You can go to a network site and order them such as BlackBox networks but if you wanna pay more and just go get it Home Depot/Lowes sells as well just will pay a little more
 
Method said:
Any electronics supply store. You can go to a network site and order them such as BlackBox networks but if you wanna pay more and just go get it Home Depot/Lowes sells as well just will pay a little more
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This place was pretty expensive..
 
Compgeeks has some pretty cheap generic cat5e cable.
 
Watch out for the quality of cable when you're buying the "cheap" stuff. Sometimes these places will market Cat5e as full 350mhz rated when it's only 200mhz rated. While that will be perfectly fine for your 100mb Ethernet it may cause you headaches with GigE conns. Especially the ones that are travelling a bit of a distance.
 
Dose This look too cheap? It's the cheapest i'v seen and it comes with them crappy crimpers and tester :rolleyes:
 
i usually buy ends and boots off of ebay, usually you can get them pretty cheap.
im more picky about the cable though, and i will buy from an electrical store.
i like belkin brand wire myself. (beldin or belden sux for me.)
 
i bought that compgeeks cable. it works decent enough for me. 200 ft run with no problems at all and im getting decent speeds over it. like 6 megs a second up load on it. not to bad.
 
That compgeeks price is really good for what you get. I'm not sure on the cable quality, but I know I pay around $60 for 1000ft. Belden Cat5e in any flavor color I choose. The colors are great when you are pulling more than one cable at a time through attics and ceilings. It helps you differentiate which cable is which without having to use a tester after pulling all the wires. Home Depot sells some other brand of cable for around $55, but only in grey color. The only thing I noticed is that the compgeeks one is CM rated. For professional installation, if your pulling wires from 1st floor to 2nd floor, your supposed to use CMR or CLR rated cables. The R stands for riser which really just means it is more resistant to allowing fire to travel along the cables. Usually for commercial work, they have a fire rating which is usually rated in hours. This is the time it takes for fire/smoke to penetrate through a wall/floor. If nothing else, the crimper is worth around $15, connectors $10, and cable tester $15. Granted those are cheap non ratcheting crimpers, cheap cable tester that doesn't test speed, and non rated connectors. If your not going to be a professional installer at this, then there really isn't much need for the nice stuff either.
 
jeffmoss26 said:
I would go to an electrical/datacom supply house like Anixter, Graybar, Wesco, or Rexel.
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Im with him on that... you can get it at graybar or anixter pretty cheep, and there is warehouse's everywhere.... they sell berk-tek cat5e for less then home depot/lowes/menards and berk-tek is the industry standard cable that everyone uses
 
Berktek isnt really an industry standard. Granted it is widely used though.
For me, as a Leviton CCS installer, I can only use Mohawk/CDT/Superior Essex cable in my networks.
 
Footer4321 said:
Im with him on that... you can get it at graybar or anixter pretty cheep, and there is warehouse's everywhere.... they sell berk-tek cat5e for less then home depot/lowes/menards and berk-tek is the industry standard cable that everyone uses
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Even if you pay more at a place like Graybar you're probably going to get much better quality product than that CompuGeeks deal. I'm willing to bet that CompuGeeks cable BARELY passes Cat5e spec.
 
I agree, I do not trust cable that cheap. In a last resort I would maybe use it at home, but NEVER in a customer's installation. I use quality products that I know will last.
Other info (which is just my opinion)
Best/Highest Price:
Belden (including Nordx)
Systimax (Avaya)/CommScope
Draka/Comteq
Decent/Middle Price:
Mohawk
West Penn
Berk-Tek
Superior Essex
Okay/Lower Price:
General Cable
Comtran
Hitachi
Genesis

I almost always use Leviton jacks because they are competitively priced and available just about anywhere.
 
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