Looking to hire a contractor to run ethernet wiring throughout my house, questions...

[_Rick_]

Would it not be cheaper to go the wireless route? You can get over gigabit speed wireless routers these days.

Not cheaper, if you want gigabit speeds.
Plus, potentially frustrating. At least with wire, you know once you finished your installation tests, that it will consistently work, where WiFi tends to be all over the place, all the time.
If you put in a gigabit backbone and then a WiFi AP in every room, I think you can get reasonable Wi-Fi performance, but short of that, forget about it. Unless you live in a traditional Japanese home with paper for walls.

 

[MiniDoom]

your right, solid means a solid piece of copper and stranded means threads of copper which you only use for very short distances. I bought solid, not stranded.

This must be new. I've never seen patch cables which use stranded wire. patch cords I buy and make are made of the same category 5e and 6 cable that's run into walls. Speaker cable uses stranded wire.

 

[spidey07]

I've never see patch cables which use stranded wire. patch cords are made of the same category 5e and 6 cable that's run into walls. Speaker cable uses stranded wire.

Negative. Patch cables use stranded wire to take the bending. Solid core would break.

 

[Fayd]

Negative. Patch cables use stranded wire to take the bending. Solid core would break.

well, i make my own patch cables with the same stuff i pulled through the walls...and just accept that occasionally they will break.

 

[imagoon]

well, i make my own patch cables with the same stuff i pulled through the walls...and just accept that occasionally they will break.

I tend to prefer to just buy them online for cheaper than the cost to buy the tool / ends.

When you can get 7 footers for less than a buck and 15 n the "less than 2 dollars" area you can just buy 10-20 at a time and pay the $3 shipping.

 

[MiniDoom]

Negative. Patch cables use stranded wire to take the bending. Solid core would break.

I've never seen it. I was a telecom cable and fiber installer in the 90's so it's been a while. We always used solid cat5 (before 5e and 6). even recently when I've needed to make crossovers, i will cut the end off a patch cord and crimp on a new rj45, they are always solid. must be a new thing...

 

[Juddog]

You can buy big spools of either solid or stranded from online retailers such as monoprice. The stranded costs slightly more and is considered more bend-friendly versus the more stiff solid cores which are considered better for in-wall use.

 

[imagoon]

I've never seen it. I was a telecom cable and fiber installer in the 90's so it's been a while. We always used solid cat5 (before 5e and 6). even recently when I've needed to make crossovers, i will cut the end off a patch cord and crimp on a new rj45, they are always solid. must be a new thing...

Now a days, cutting a cable like that rarely passes testing. It might work but it might not. When I have to deal with hundreds to thousands of cables I would rather just spend the $2 or less to get the stranded cable premade with strain relief and the like. I have had way to many "home built" cables end up with intermittent connections. The copper often breaks and then touches. This might work when you have 7 feet between you and the switch. However in building with 250 feet of cable from patch to drop, that crack makes the connection fail/go intermittent / not connect at gig speeds etc.

All to waste my time trying to save a nickel.

/shrug

 

[blurredvision]

Since we're on the subject, I've never understood why a certain type of wire would be better for in-wall use. I can understand stranded being easier to bend and using it in those situations, but what exactly changes when a wire is inside a wall to make one type better than the other?

 

[spidey07]

Since we're on the subject, I've never understood why a certain type of wire would be better for in-wall use. I can understand stranded being easier to bend and using it in those situations, but what exactly changes when a wire is inside a wall to make one type better than the other?

Different needs. In wall or horizontal cabling needs to be a little stronger to take the strain of being run vertically and horizontally. It is meant to be permanently installed like other low voltage cabling. There are standards and specs that make sure all of this stuff works. As long as you adhere to the spec, it will have a guarantee of performance. EIA/TIA specs. The twists are different on horizontal cabling I believe to meet the spec and 90 meter distance limitation.

1st rule of network = "don't fuck with the physical layer"

Making patch cables is considered highly "fucking with the physical layer".

 

[imagoon]

Stranded is a higher loss. 300 feet of solid will have a stronger signal than stranded. This is offset by the potential to break solid core while moving it. However once it is in the wall, it rarely moves (or well rarely moves differently relative to the walls ie it is normally ok in an earthquake etc). So the better signal cable that is weaker is used protected in the wall so the drop and make the 100 meter limit of Ethernet. The spec actually includes 90 meters of solid and 10 of stranded with 4 "connections" IE device wall wall device.

 

[Fayd]

I tend to prefer to just buy them online for cheaper than the cost to buy the tool / ends.

When you can get 7 footers for less than a buck and 15 n the "less than 2 dollars" area you can just buy 10-20 at a time and pay the $3 shipping.

i prefer to make em as i need em... so i have a lot of patch cables that are <1.5 feet long, enough to stretch between switch/router, router/modem, etc.

 

[spidey07]

i prefer to make em as i need em... so i have a lot of patch cables that are <1.5 feet long, enough to stretch between switch/router, router/modem, etc.

1.5 feet is under the minimum distance of 1 meter between active devices.

Those cables are out of spec, so you can expect troubles/errors/reflections.

 

[Fayd]

1.5 feet is under the minimum distance of 1 meter between active devices.

Those cables are out of spec, so you can expect troubles/errors/reflections.

maybe so if the expectations i had of them were gigabit. all those links are running at 100 mbit.

and over cat-5 cable, not cat-5e.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Would it not be cheaper to go the wireless route? You can get over gigabit speed wireless routers these days.

I was going to say, they have this new tech called wireless. Why the need for wiring the whole house?

 

[imagoon]

maybe so if the expectations i had of them were gigabit. all those links are running at 100 mbit.

and over cat-5 cable, not cat-5e.

That makes the odds of trouble even higher. However to each there own really. I would rather not waste my time building a cable using the wrong wire when 6 inch and 1 foot cables could just be bought 10 at a time for $5 shipped. I mean I could build every nail I use and every screw to but I don't want to waste my time on it.

 

[PingSpike]

I've never seen it. I was a telecom cable and fiber installer in the 90's so it's been a while. We always used solid cat5 (before 5e and 6). even recently when I've needed to make crossovers, i will cut the end off a patch cord and crimp on a new rj45, they are always solid. must be a new thing...

Well, I know the bend radius on CAT6 in wall is like an inch and it has a rigid plastic core to help hold it to this. The requirements to maintain the higher speed are more stringent than past standards. And I think there's about 30ft of stranded patch in the spec or something? In wall is expected to be solid core as I understand it so I wouldn't expect stranded to do as well.

As imagoon said though, making patch cables is a waste of time when you can buy them for less than a dollar on monoprice. I remember making a few back in the 90s and it was a PITA even with the looser CAT5 standards.

I was going to say, they have this new tech called wireless. Why the need for wiring the whole house?

Well, the only advantage wireless has over wired is the lack of wires. Its worse at everything else so for some people it might not be the right tool for the job.