Cat6 cable above 250MHz - good or bad idea?

[destrekor]

So I am searching for a good price on a box of Cat6 cable. I figure there is zero point in going Cat6a, at least not for this box. It will be for in-wall and patching. I won't ever run into the length issues that require Cat6a, and I certainly have no need for a very long time for Cat7, not in my new house.

Now, I know one major difference between 6 and 6a is the increase in frequency, and the official standard for Cat6 is 250MHz. But I am seeing a ton of 550MHz and some 350MHz. Considering the standard is ratified for a reason, and Cat6a has increased shielding to accompany the increase in frequency... is adding more detrimental? Just a wire manufacturer's scam to make things seem better, sort of like "Cat6e" which has never been an official standard?

 

[ch33zw1z]

I would get the cat6a 550MHz non-CCA. CCA is copper clad aluminum, I personally would not use it.

In-wall infrastructure cabling uses solid core(aka "riser"), punch into patch panels or keystones.

patch cabling uses stranded copper. I would recommend buying pre-fab patch cables

 

[destrekor]

Cat6a is quite a bit more expenisve. And hard to find in UTP. I'm more curious about Cat6 that conforms to standards whereas other Cat6 appears to not conform. (then again, most Cat6 spools tend to have the plastic core, borrowed from the Cat6a standard, but not part of the Cat6 standard)

And as for solid core vs stranded, is there any kind of penalty for using solid core as patch cable? I know you need to be mindful of how you handle the cable and how much it bends, but if that is taken into account, it wouldn't hurt, would it? Solid core is cheaper, and if I'm buying a spool of it then might as well use it where I can. lol

And why would you recommend buying pre-fab patch cables?

 

[razel]

Since people repeat-ably, move, rollup, straighten patch cables often, solid core isn't a right fit. Solid core however is perfect for situation when you don't move the cable often since it actually stays in place. Pre-fab patch cables are highly recommend for gigabit connections. Making it yourself, you need to be pretty good to ensure the shielding, spacing, at the connector end. I'm not saying that you can't, there's awesome tools out there to make that part easy.

The good news is patch cables are cheap, like from MonoPrice, and since we're in 'Merica, Belden cable is cheap and awesome. I'd avoid the ebay Chinese specials for gigabit. Not saying Chinese off-brands are bad... the ones there are cheap since they don't have much QA. You are the QA.

 

[destrekor]

Since people repeat-ably, move, rollup, straighten patch cables often, solid core isn't a right fit. Solid core however is perfect for situation when you don't move the cable often since it actually stays in place. Pre-fab patch cables are highly recommend for gigabit connections. Making it yourself, you need to be pretty good to ensure the shielding, spacing, at the connector end. I'm not saying that you can't, there's awesome tools out there to make that part easy.

The good news is patch cables are cheap, like from MonoPrice, and since we're in 'Merica, Belden cable is cheap and awesome. I'd avoid the ebay Chinese specials for gigabit. Not saying Chinese off-brands are bad... the ones there are cheap since they don't have much QA. You are the QA.

Yeah I definitely get that, but also, I am not touching anything shielded. UTP cable shouldn't be an issue terminating. And this is for my personal use at home, where cables will be stationary.
I have quite a few patch cables already made, so I might not need any more for use going from keystone to device. Although, I might look into pre-fab for all the actual patch to switch cables that will be super short.

 

[ch33zw1z]

We've had a couple threads in the last month or two where a couple users explained physical terminations and why solid vs stranded is necessary to terminate correctly.

As I am a cell phone noob, I will search for the threads from a PC later today and link.

Edit, sounds like you already have a good plan for the patch cables

 

[destrekor]

Ah, just did a search on "solid core termination" and it appears there is definitely cause for concern there.

So it's great for punch-downs, but bad idea for RJ45 for long-term use. Got it, duly noted!

I might end up having to do RJ45 ends on the basement terminations, temporarily until I get a patch, might not have that when I start this project. But I'll just cut that off and punch it down when that comes, which won't be long after if that turns out to be the case.

So I definitely won't even need to buy a 1000ft box. Won't be using it that much if it's just in-wall use.

 

[destrekor]

Now, I think the way I'll be approaching this is not going to be in-wall, because with the way the walls are it just is not going to be easy or cheap. But I think I have found a way to go up from the basement into a coat closet which I can then get into the office from there. Not in a great location, but I can use raceway to then dress it up and get the cable where I need it. This mandates some tight corners for the cable. Thus, I'm thinking stranded UTP is going to be the way to go. This isn't going to be detrimental for the punch-downs is it?

 

[Red Squirrel]

If cat6a is not that much more expensive I'd go with it, or even look into cat7 but honestly I think you'll be fine with cat6. When I originally moved in my house cat6 was the latest and greatest and a was still considered draft so I went with cat6. I see speeds of about 120MB/sec between machines which is nearly pushing the gigabit limit. Cat6 is also suitable for 10gig but to me that's mostly just needed for between servers, ex: VM server and storage server, gig is more than enough for within a home network. Also the specs are mostly just that, specs, does not mean something is absolutely not going to work, it's just it may not be guaranteed.

The cat6 I have is solid riser rated and has that X spacer in it. Also, solid is good for punch down applications but NOT for crimp, so you won't be able to use the same cable to make patch cords. At least that's been my experience, I could never get a self made cable (using the solid) to even negotiate at gigabit even though some cat5 ones I made did. So I would say it's cheaper to just buy patch cords for cat6 especially given how cheap they are at Monoprice. Or if you're in a pinch buy the longest one you can find at Walmart then cut it to the size you need. I've done that in situations where I needed a cable right away. There are also different ends for cat6 but the cat5 ones will work too. It's the same plug obviously, it's just the way the wires go in is different, it has different pieces you pass it through.

Oh and for the raceways, usually the corner angle pieces have enough play that you should still be able to get a half decent bend radius out of the cable. You don't want to do a sharp 90 even on a stranded as it messes up the twisting. If you absolutely have to it's probably going to still work though, just something to try to avoid.

 

[rchunter]

For my new place I just bought a roll of Belden 2412 (cat6) and a leviton 24 port patch panel. I plan on doing all the runs myself before my contractor puts up the drywall. Most of my runs are fairly short (3300 sq ft home) so cat 6 should be good enough.

https://www.amazon.com/2412-006A100...F8&qid=1481132742&sr=8-1&keywords=belden+2412