CAT 6 - Cost

Tinytony

Hi,

Just wondering would somebody be able to give the rough cost of a 100m (or whatever lenght they come in) box of CAT 6 cable?

I've looked on a couple of supplier sites but I can't find the cost. I am going hardwalling a new house and was going to throw some CAT5 cable (i have a couple of spare boxes) in while the electrician was there doing the wiring but a friend suggested to me to use CAT 6 as it's the "future"!

Captain Chaos

Last time we ordered some in it was about €120 a box for Systimax CAT 6A, we ordered about 30 boxes, it could be more for smaller orders. Some brands are cheaper though we mainly deal with Systimax. A box is 305m/1000ft.

Tinytony

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Last time we ordered some in it was about €120 a box for Systimax CAT 6A, we ordered about 30 boxes, it could be more for smaller orders. Some brands are cheaper though we mainly deal with Systimax. A box is 305m/1000ft.

Cheers, I had a look on the Kedington website but couldn't find a price. They supply that stuff don't they?

Do you think it would be worth paying a couple of hundred euros extra to get the CAT 6 over CAT 5? Would I get a noticeable benefit out of it at the moment or is alot of the major benefits of CAT 6 well down the line?

Captain Chaos

Personally I would stick with CAT 5E, especially for domestic installations. CAT 5E can run at almost the same speed as CAT 6 but every thing in the network must be rated for gigabit speed or there is no point. The signal sppeds will only be as fast as the slowest link. So that would be whatever the connection speed is coming into the house. In this country I can't see the point of CAT 6 in domestic installations for along time yet even with fibre running to alot of new build estates.

We mainly only install CAT 6 over the past two years, very little CAT 5E now but we mainly do colleges, banks, office blocks, with high speed networks and will have the cables in place for about 20 years. But thats what the IT tech guys want, they always say they want the best they can get. They are getting the fastest copper they can get alright but thats only on paper specs.

biko

For home use I would go with the cheaper option too unless I had the money to splash out or a very demanding customer.

Info on the diff and future:
What is the general difference between category 5e and category 6?
The general difference between category 5e and category 6 is in the transmission performance, and extension of the available bandwidth from 100 MHz for category 5e to 200 MHz for category 6. This includes better insertion loss, near end crosstalk (NEXT), return loss, and equal level far end crosstalk (ELFEXT). These improvements provide a higher signal-to-noise ratio, allowing higher reliability for current applications and higher data rates for future applications.

Will category 6 supersede category 5e?
Yes, analyst predictions and independent polls indicate that 80 to 90 percent of all new installations will be cabled with category 6. The fact that category 6 link and channel requirements are backward compatible to category 5e makes it very easy for customers to choose category 6 and supersede category 5e in their networks. Applications that worked over category 5e will work over category 6.

What does category 6 do for my current network vs. category 5e?
Because of its improved transmission performance and superior immunity from external noise, systems operating over category 6 cabling will have fewer errors vs. category 5e for current applications. This means fewer re-transmissions of lost or corrupted data packets under certain conditions, which translates into higher reliability for category 6 networks compared to category 5e networks.

When should I recommend or install category 6 vs. category 5e?
From a future proofing perspective, it is always better to install the best cabling available. This is because it is so difficult to replace cabling inside walls, in ducts under floors and other difficult places to access. The rationale is that cabling will last at least 10 years and will support at least four to five generations of equipment during that time. If future equipment running at much higher data rates requires better cabling, it will be very expensive to pull out category 5e cabling at a later time to install category 6 cabling. So why not do it for a premium of about 20 percent over category 5e on an installed basis?

What is the shortest link that the standard will allow?
There is no short length limit. The standard is intended to work for all lengths up to 100 meters. There is a guideline in ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.1 that says the consolidation point should be located at least 15 meters away from the telecommunications room to reduce the effect of connectors in close proximity. This recommendation is based upon worst-case performance calculations for short links with four mated connections in the channel.

http://www.broadbandutopia.com/caandcaco.html

Tinytony

Cheers for the info.

Seeing as I have the CAT 5 cable available to me for nothing, and the house is out in sticks and not likely to be connected to any decent speed fibre in the next few years, I'll stick with that.

dahak

One advantage of CAT6 over CAT5 would be for AV applications.

You can run HDMI over CAT5/6 cable, but it can be sent longer distances over CAT6 (usually nearly double the distance). Most of the HDMI over CAT5/6 kit needs two cables running point to point, though there does seem to some of the newer ones that can run over one cable (more expensive at the moment).

HDMI over two CAT5/6 cables
HDMI over single CAT5/6

There's a thread about distribution of HD video here that you might find interesting.

Here's an expensive piece of kit that allows you to select any one of four HDMI inputs at four remote points over CAT5/6 cable.

So for AV alone you'd want two CAT5/6 (preferably CAT6) running from each room to central location (not really a problem if you were going to do a coms cabinet anyway, now it's a coms + AV cabinet).

If I were doing a new house at the moment I'd do a min of four network cables to each normal room and three coaxial (CT-100 equivalent).

• 2 CAT6 AV
• 1 CAT6 network
• 1 CAT6 spare*
• 2 coax for Sat**
• 1 coax for terrestrial**

*This could be wired up as network or AV if needed (Better to have a spare in there if the cables are under plaster).

** 2 Sat (for duel tuner recorders like Sky+ Freesat+ etc.)and one for terrestrial (the terrestrial could be combined with one of the Sat but it's always good to have some wiggle room)