Home network - Cable choice - Help!!!

Do-more

I am about to order some cable to install a home network in a timber frame new build house but my head is spinning with all the possible variations in cable spec.

To give a bit of background, the heaviest use the network will get in the foreseeable future is to distribute TV around the house from a server for IPTV + DVD-T and DVD-S cards. At the very most 4 TV's/PC's would be in use simultaneously, although the server may be pushing out more channels than that.

I intend to install a Gigabit 24 port switch.

The internet delivery to the house is likely to be 4G LTE to begin with, so maybe 40 Mbit/s but the village is due to get fibre shortly with up to 250 Mbit/s.

I have been looking at cable on ebay.de as I am in Sweden and it seems to give me the best prices inc. delivery.

Whilst Cat5e would probably do the job for me, the price difference to Cat6 or even Cat7 is pretty small in the overall scheme of things so it seems to make sense to future proof the installation with at least Cat6.

One concern is how stiff the fully shielded + PIMF cable is? I intend to run everything within flexible plastic conduit and as the house is under construction I have good access and I think I can run it so that the tightest arc is around 200mm diameter so I think I will be OK on that score? But is fully shielded cable necessary in a domestic house?

The cables I am considering are this Cat6 or this Cat6 or possibly this Cat7, 2 rolls should cover the job with plenty to spare.

They all appear to be decent quality from well rated power sellers but does anyone have direct experience of the quality?

Thanks for reading and any advise or suggestions greatly appreciated.

whizbang

I don think theres going to be any issue with stiffness, even shielded cable is easily bent.

I dont see the need for shielded cabling. Unless your running industrial stuff in your home, its not needed, and can create problems with ground loops if not done right.
However its very useful if you want to run Audio / voice.

Foreseeable future - is your house only going to last 5 years

brianwalshcork

Cat 7 is overkill, I'd do cat 6a, don't forget your wall plates, patch panels etc all need to be cat 6a also so you need to take the cost of these into account too.

Brian

whizbang

Yeah i meant to say that too...

but its the quality of the installation that makes the real difference. Cat 7 becomes Cat 4 if badly assembled!

Do-more

Thanks for the replies, I had come to the same conclusion from reading elsewhere regarding the use of shielded cable.

I am running everything in 20mm flexible conduit so if the need ever arises to upgrade it should be reasonably easy to pull through new cable.

I had come to the conclusion that Cat5e UTP was probably the safest for what I need and ordered up some König Cat5e from a local internet retailer. But they have sent me Cat6 UTP. Luckily I hadn't ordered any faceplates or other components so I will now order up Cat6 UTP faceplates, a gigabit patch panel and a gigabit unmanaged switch and that should see me right for the foreseeable future.

Wotty

If cost isn't an issue and performance is the over-riding spec, then go with Cat7 fully shielded.

If cost is the most important factor then go with what fits your budget.

I a few years Cat7 is going to be outdated, so think about how outdated anything less is going to be!

Have you considered fibre optic scheme instead? Is regularly used for satallite television these days. My appartment has fibre optic from the distribution point in the building to my appartment for our television.

PogMoThoin

I'd go with Cat 6 which will do 10 gigabit. Shielded is only of any use if every single device and socket is earthed and is not really of much benefit.
http://www.commsbusiness.co.uk/Comms_Business_Feature.cfm?FeatureID=169

Wotty

If every device and socket is earthed then it must be star point earthing to be effective otherwise you risk introducing earth loops.

If you have a router on one socket and a computer or tv at another socket and each socket is earthed, you will form a loop between the sockets via the mains earthing and the cable shielding.