What sort of Cat5 cabling should i be using through my house walls for 2/...

[Detoyminador_]

...more PC's, solid core or multi-strand Cat5 cable? with my D-Link networking kit i got 2 x 20' Unsheilded Twisted Pair (UTP) Category 5 cables. do i have to install this exact same cable through the walls? or won't it matter?

 

[BCYL]

No it won't matter whether you install those exact same cables thru the walls... Usually the ones that comes with the kit is fine for you application, so u can just go to your local computer store and purchase longer ones for your house wiring... You dont need special CAT5 cables to go thru the walls, normal ones will do... Just make sure they dont get any interference from any radio signals or transmitters...

 

[shadow]

watch out for building codes, and running the cable through plenum areas

 

[Supergax]

Stranded or solid makes no difference, even though stranded tends to be a little more flexible. If you plan on running it (or have to run it) by things such as phone line, power line, or fluorescent lighting you can get some STP (shielded twisted pair) which protects the line from outside noise. I used it in a run of 80' with a coax and phone line, had no problems with it (the cable itself is kind of stiffere than usual).

On purchasing, for example someone I know had the keen idea of going to CompUSA and purchasing 100' of patch cable with rj45 jacks on the end. He then cut them off and wired them up. That 100' cost him $40, which he could have picked up for 12 bucks. I go to http://www.cableexpress.com for all my wiring, you can get bulk cable by the foot for as low as 12 cents a foot unshielded, and about 23 cents a foot shielded. They have plenum cable running from 32 cents a foot to 3.25 a foot.

 

[R0b0tN1k]

STP is useless if it isn't grounded by the devices at either end. For permanent runs, use solid wire. For patch cables, use stranded. If it's just a residential installation and you don't care about wiring codes, use PVC...it's cheaper.

 

[Supergax]

I have the STP cable grounded, and it works great. It runs along the beams in my basement, and across 7 fluorescent lights. I'm sure UTP would work, but I wanted to be safe since it's a 100Mb network, so I got STP and grounded it.

 

[Mday]

STP would rock.

but they are SO EXPENSIVE.

shielded segments don't hurt though i you run into power lines.

anyway, there is a difference between solid and stranded, it's an issue of something but i forget what. anyway, it's due to the nature of stranded with several conductors per wire.

 

[Supergax]

Shieled isn't tha expensive, as I noted about, I got mine for the price of 23 cents a foot, 80 feet brought me up to $18.4 before shipping, I find that quite cheap for network cable.

 

[Inosuke]

I think you should use gigabit fiber!!!

Come on!! Splurge!!


Inosuke

 

[Supergax]

Well actually the 100Mb copper line is just a backup in case the oc-256 line from my bedroom to the den goes down

 

[xyyz]

get pelnum(sp?) cabling if you are going to run the wires indoors... i'm sure the building codes will require it...

You don't need to spend too much cash on cable... are you going to be doing alot of file sharing or something? If it's going to be used to share a DSL connection or something... get the cheap stuff... because you don't need that much bandwidth.

 

[R0b0tN1k]

Stranded isn't as reliable as solid for stuff like this. Stranded is used where flexibility is needed, ie patch cables.