What's a good place to get Cat5?

[ZeroBurn]

i need a box of uncut cat5 to wire my house next week, a box of 250 ft. costs $45 here at microcenter. i'm sure there's a better place online, anyone ?

 

[TonyG]

Try Home-Depot, though I can't remeber what they want for a box.

 

[Hooobi]

someone in the FS/FT forum is selling off most of a 1000' spool, might wanna search there...

 

[chiwawa626]

Howmuch do u think a 1000ft spool goes for? My dad needs to sell about 5 boxes i think and a half or so box...

 

[Tonec]

Go to your local Fry's, they sell 1000ft spools for ~$40

 

[Ameesh]

<< Go to your local Fry's, they sell 1000ft spools for ~$40 >>



agree

 

[ZeroBurn]

frys it is

anywhere else i should look at ?

 

[Ronstang]

Fry's actually sells CAT5 for $49.95 when it is on sale, but it seems to always be on sale. I have never seen it this cheap anywhere else so if there is a Fry's near you go check it out.

 

[Squisher]

$57 for a 1000 ft. roll cat5e at Home Depot

They also sell it by the foot there....$.23/ft. I think

 

[ZeroBurn]

i don't know if i need 1,000 ft but i guess if it's a good deal i might as well go for it

 

[brtspears2]

Make sure the cable is semi-flexable. Sucks when you need to go around a corner and the cable wont bend unless you give it a 90 degree bend.

Usually the cable sold in bulk boxes are for wiring inside walls. YOu are usually better off running this cable in the walls, and making ports in the walls.

 

[duke]

I'm not a network engineer, but I do know there are at least two (maybe more?) types of CAT5 cable. There is the solid type which are used usually for inside walls or conduits. You don't want to bend and rebend solid cables too much or it will break, kinda like with a paper clip. The other type are stranded cables or more commonly know as drop cables and these are more flexible, tolerable to manhandling, stepped on, etc...

 

[EagleKeeper]

Check the yellow pages in phonebook under wire &amp; cable.

Many places will sell you what you need cheeper than the regular stores. Some will even cut it to length and crimp it.

Last year paid $10 for 5 40 meter lengths with the ends crimped.

 

[ZeroBurn]

thanks, i'll make sure to check the phone listing. i wasn't quite sure how long they needed to be, i don't have the measurements yet (moving in this weekend), so i was just going to crimp them myself.

as for the cable type i'm definitely aware of the differences, been to enough lan parties to see who does it right and who does it wrong 🙂 the last one they had a pillar of network cables coming down from the ceiling and running along the back of tables for the lan.

 

[Mday]

homedepot also has a 500' pack. 30 something i think...

 

[ViperMagic]

if I rember right, Lowes has it really cheap. I bought like 200' of the flexable stuff there.