Is the cat6 worth?

[muellert]

Hey guys have an electrician coming into my house tomorrow to do the wiring he is charging $49.95 for cat6. He said the cable is UL rated and up to 1Gbps transfer rates. Is the cat6 worth? Would I need cat6 with hight speeds?

[evasive]

If you have gigabit router and gigabit network cards you actually need cat6. how big is the price difference with cat5 or cat5e?

[pbailey]

This is true! If you have Gig switch/router and card in your setup.

If you have gigabit router and gigabit network cards you actually need cat6. how big is the price difference with cat5 or cat5e?

[bdub]

cat5e does fine for gigabit speeds.
typically 50 feet of cat5e costs under 10 bucks, and that is with connectors on both ends. cat6 is about the same (still under $10).
as a spool and no connectors, it should be even cheaper.
the guy is prolly giving a good break on normal price if he wants to get rid of old cat5 cable.
you want cat5e or cat6 though.

[Roach412]

i thought it's been proven that even cat5 (not even cat5e) can handle gigabit speeds...? this is going back to my early college/late high school years, but i was pretty sure the cat5e specification was just released around the time and the cat6 specification was still in-progress, but cat5 was capable.

a quick check on wikipedia gleans the following:

It is most commonly used for 100 Mbit/s networks, such as 100BASE-TX Ethernet, although IEEE 802.3ab defines standards for 1000BASE-T – Gigabit Ethernet over category 5 cable

Half-duplex gigabit links connected through hubs are allowed by the specification but in the marketplace full-duplex with switches are normal

IEEE 802.3ab, ratified in 1999, defines gigabit Ethernet transmission over unshielded twisted pair (UTP) category 5, 5e, or 6 cabling and became known as 1000BASE-T. With the ratification of 802.3ab, gigabit Ethernet became a desktop technology as organizations could use their existing copper cabling infrastructure.

-Roach

[pbailey]

You have many IF factors with this 5,5e and 6.

I have just learned that when it comes to installing a gigabit network to use Solid cat 6 cable for the perminent and stranded 6 for the patch will work everytime.

You can take a chance on 5 and 5e. I would not!

You are at the mercy of whoever installed it.


I agree with "Roach412"

[Roach412]

i'm by no means advocating that you SHOULD use cat5...but, if they're not long runs, and you aren't running them next to sources of interference, it should work.

if they're going to wire you're whole house for 50 bucks, then i'd have them do it. to have somebody wire anything for anything more than 30 minutes will cost you at least 50 bucks. i'm thinking there's more to that price than meets the eye. i would expect an electrician to charge 50/room perhaps, plus incidentals.

if you were to do it yourself i'd expect you to use (depending on house/run size/# rooms) anywhere from 200-500ft of cable, 2 ends per run, hopefully a wall jack for each room. cable and ends would probably only run you 20-30, jacks aren't expensive either. you could get all the materials for less than 50, but it's going to take time...so, it's all about what you value your time at. probably an hour per run - might be able to consolidate a few runs together at the same time...and you'd be bound to get better/quicker on each subsequent run. either way, plan for a 1/2 day or full day to get the basics completed.

-Roach

[fussnfeathers]

i would expect an electrician to charge 50/room perhaps, plus incidentals.


-Roach

It's a bit more here, but the vast majority of houses in the area are old. There's no way of telling what's behind that plaster, lath, and layers of wallpaper. Newer houses here are generally wired for networking as part of the electrical installation. The old joints here just don't follow any standard (like installing the handicap grab rail in my shower.....two studs are 18" on center, the next one is 12", the fourth 15", and the last 10"........talk about a nightmare. I had to use heavy duty toggle bolts for one end of the bar).

[Karlsweldt]

Cat 5e should be more than adequate for high data speeds.. it is used on Gigabit LAN lines. The only caution with any type of network cable is when run next to high-current power lines or other unshielded data lines. In such cases go with "plenum" rated network cable. It is fully shielded. Maximum run for any network cable is about 100 feet. Beyond that, Ethernet cable is preferred, with in-line repeater/amplifiers.

[fussnfeathers]

I'd go with cat6 in any case. Given that it's somewhat future-proofed, designed to replace cat5, it'd be your best bet in an in-wall design.