Choosing Right Cable Grade For Jobs

[PinkFloydEffect]

I am having a hard time with settling on a cable type/grade for jobs and I need the communities input.

At the price difference between 5e and 6, for the cost I always run Cat6 now.

The problem is when choosing my Cat6 I keep using shielded solid copper wire which is hard to work with but great stuff. It is hard for me to judge interference in an environment so to avoid relaying a line I always go for the shielded cable. If you are running it between a patch panel and wall jack it works, but can not be ran in the open to a device due to the stiffness of both the cable and the head when it is crimped.

I bought a home not long ago and had my ISP drop me a new line to the room I wanted a modem in, and it looked so cheap like phone line that I ran a new line and pulled the one they installed without even thinking to read it. Their termination was horribly executed but the cable was actually not bad and got me thinking.

The grey 6E is what I actually did my entire house in thinking I was planning for the future, when 7 probably would have been a better overkill than the shielding with ground wire. The phone line colored 5e is what the ISP ran from my ONT to my router, which I replaced. It is outdoor rated cable (jacket) with no shielding, but to my surprise it was solid copper cable and easy to work with. The wire gauge was 24AWG where the grey cable I ran is 23AWG so just a little thinner.

I buy the cable on eBay for $0.22/ft and it has a foil shield, a ground wire, a plastic divider, and a clear plastic what seems like waterproof jacketing. Maybe the solid copper is a good thing and 24AWG will be fine but this grey cable is overkill even for poe (which I run). How do you choose your cable?

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Bump, anyone?

 

[FatherLandDescendant]

The problem is when choosing my Cat6 I keep using shielded solid copper wire which is hard to work with but great stuff

Suitable for wall installations where you can set it and forget it, especially useful if your going to run it in a ceiling around florescent lighting which can create interference (EMI), or in industrial environments where sources of EMI are generated from any number of sources, usually machinery. In most home applications shielded cable is over kill.

If you are running it between a patch panel and wall jack it works

Which is fine, the shielding, as well as the slightly larger gauge wire you say you buy, and subsequent stiffness thereof is good for pulling through walls and terminating at a wall plate and patch panel.

but can not be ran in the open to a device due to the stiffness of both the cable and the head when it is crimped.

Except in extreme environments you don't use shielded cable in the open from wall plate to device, that is what shorter unshielded patch cables are for.

I bought a home not long ago and had my ISP drop me a new line to the room I wanted a modem in, and it looked so cheap like phone line

Because they use cat5 to run phone lines and it is suitable for even long runs indoors in the residential environment.

Their termination was horribly executed

They usually are with field install techs. I usually redo the terminations a field tech leaves behind, mostly because I don't like the terminations they tend to use. Most often though I already have the cables in place ready to just plug and play for them, and if they want to cut one of my terminations (which has been tested and verified before they get there) I won't let them do it.

it was solid copper cable and easy to work with. The wire gauge was 24AWG where the grey cable I ran is 23AWG so just a little thinner.

Which would have been fine to run your entire house in, it was easier to work with because the ISPs cable doesn't have the plastic separator tubing in the middle that the one in your pic has.

I buy the cable on eBay

Looks like good cable from the pic, but after a bad experience on amazon with crappy cable I only get mine from Monoprice now. I get non-shielded, contractor grade wire that is better quality than what we use at work when we do run wire. It would be suitable for pulling through walls and I have done my entire network with it, all of my runs are in the open so the better quality wire was desirable, I even make patch cables with it.

Maybe the solid copper is a good thing

Personally I prefer solid copper over stranded, to me it's easier to terminate, and it is not as susceptible to breaks mid-wire that can necessitate replacing a run. I would not run stranded in a wall or ceiling, I would make patch cables with it nothing more, but admittedly I've not worked with much stranded.

How do you choose your cable?

I use only cat5e in my apartment, everything is hardwired but the runs are short enough that it doesn't matter. Even at work when we run cable we use cat5e and most of those runs are significantly longer than anything I have in my apartment. We don't use shielded wire, run them through a drop ceiling, and if we have to run close to florescent lighting we tie-wrap them up away from the fixture.

If I had a house built from the ground up, where I had access to the skeleton before the walls were finished I would run the entire house with cat6, or if I bought a house I'd probably drop in a wired network with cat6, but probably not shielded wire and from wall plate to device, or patch panel to switch I would still use cat5e.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Thank you for your input, it was all very helpful