OK now, pay attention, this is important:
There are exactly two acceptable color orders/pair orders, both are considered standard:
EIA/TIA 568a:
White-Green, Green, White-orange, Blue, White-blue, Blue, Orange, White-Brown, Brown
Eia/TIA 568b:
White-orange, Orange, White-Green, Blue, White-blue, Green, White-Brown, Brown
This is with the clip down, open end toward your body (orange or green on the left side).
Pair order / color order MATTERS. All four pair should be terminated because 1) that's the standard and 2) you look like a flaming idiot trying to line up only four of the eight little wires and getting them in the right spot in the connector (the other fur wires act as placeholders, if nothing else).
Next: If you were to create a cable with a pair order of <pair> <pair> <pair> <pair> , regardless of what the colors are, then you will have a "split pair" on pins 3&6 and the cable will probably work at 10Meg, might work (but poorly) at 100Half, and probably won't work at all (or really suck) at 100Full.
Ethernet uses pins 1, 2, 3, 6 ... if you use pair|pair|pair|pair, the you are using one wire of a pair (pin 3) and another wire of another pair(pin 6) and you lose all the benefits of the "Twisted Pair" - mostly (but not only) the crosstalk suppression.
It won't matter if it's a short cable, or a long cable, the crosstalk will severely inhibit the performance of the cable.
The performance of the cable will (at the least) SUCK mightily. And, since it takes no additonal effort to put the little wires in the right order, you have to be plain flat stupid to not use the right color order.
Choosing the right pair order but using different colors is also a really ignorant, stupid, bad idea (at least up to Cat5e). The manufacturers are expecting that the standrds will be followed, and so they qualify only the orange and green pair for high-speed data(especially the cheaper cabling ... better quality stuff is probably qualified on all four pair). The "Certified to meet Category XX specification" only applies if you FOLLOW THE FRIGGIN' STANDARDS.
Next, there can only be 1/2 inch of exposed wires, and only 1/2 inch are allowed to be untwisted (this is a maximum for up to Cat5e, and, if possible, the twist should be maintained up to the crimp. The jacketing should be crimped into the strain relief dimple near the rear of the connector - Cat6 is 3/8" MAX) The 1/2" (or 3/8") exposed and the 1/2" (or 3/8") are the same 1/2" (or 3/8") inch .... not 1/2" (or 3/8") inch untwisted and another 1/2" (or 3/8") of exposure.
And, since this is already a long ugly post, keep in mind that the distance spec (100 meters end-to-end) breaks down like this: you can have 90 meters of SOLID CORE cabling "in-the-wall" with up to 5 meters of STRANDED jumper cordage at each end.
The distance recommendation is based on the losses of solid-conductor cabling compared to stranded. Stranded-conductor cabling has much higher loss, and worse crosstalk figures than the solid core stuff. Stranded can handle the flexion better than solid core.
For the "I didn't do it that way and it works fine for me" folks .... STFU. Go fix your cables and hope your family's automobile mechanic doesn't have that attitude. Do it by spec, do it right, it doesn't take any extra effort .... so even a college student can (usually) accomplish this basic manual task.
FWIW
Scott
Facebook
Twitter