Where do you buy your bulk cables???

[DarkTXKnight]

Hey guys, I'm getting ready to order parts for wiring my house.... where is the best place to buy RG6 and cat5e cable in bulk???? Heck networking parts period I'm in houston, Tx

Thanks!!!

 

[spidey07]

Home depot?

 

[jbritt1234]

Most retail places REALLY mark up cables etc. I would try local electronic stores (NOT Radioshack). I buy from a place called Roden, I can get a cable that cost's $15 at CompUSA for $1.25

 

[FracturedSoul]

Also retail places tend to sell crap that doesn't exist........ like Cat6 UTP cable.

 

[TJN23]

dude my officemax was selling 7ft cables for $11.99

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: TJN23
dude my officemax was selling 7ft cables for $11.99

that's still highway robbery. should cost at most 4 bucks for cat6 patch cable 15 feet.

 

[Garion]

My favorite place. ComReady. Cheap bulk patch cables and also 1000' strands. I've bought from them before and it was a good experience.

- G

 

[PELarson]

Computer Geeks .

 

[Need4Speed]

our stockroom?

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

um, don't all of us keep at least 1500 feet of CatV laying around?

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: DeathByAnts
um, don't all of us keep at least 1500 feet of CatV laying around?

dont be ridiculous....no more than 1200

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: TJN23
dude my officemax was selling 7ft cables for $11.99

that's still highway robbery. should cost at most 4 bucks for cat6 patch cable 15 feet.

Microcenter sells 50-100 foot pre-ended cables for around 4 bucks... Never buy cable from office depot for networking, all their prices are ripoffs generally.. Menards or Microcenter, have good prices.

 

[cmetz]

DarkTXKnight, if you're looking for high-end stuff, talk with Anixter. If you're looking for reasonable and cheap, go to Home Depot.

For the RG6, get quad-shielded.

 

[DarkTXKnight]

Thanks for all of the repsonses..... and yes cmetz Im looking for reasonable and cheap..... also I notice a lot of the places I'v looked at sell Cat5e but not RG6...where would I find those????

Thanks a bunch!

 

[cmetz]

DarkTXKnight, Home Depot in my area (Washington DC metro, deep suburbs) sells both plain RG6 and RG6 quad-shield. I've used their cat5e and RG6 QS and it's not the best stuff in the world but it will work fine for most home setups, and its price is right. They also carry Leviton faceplates and jacks and cable management panels, these are not as cheap but they're good quality and readily available, which is a major plus.

 

[cmetz]

[dupe deleted, sorry]

 

[cmetz]

Oh, and buy good wiring tools. Tools cost but you'll be surprised how often they'll come in handy, and they last roughly forever unless you really screw 'em up. And they make the wiring job sooooo much easier. Home Depot carries a bunch of reasonable Ideal tools - not THE best but good enough for most people without breaking the bank.

Get a good punch-down tool, a good coax crimper, at least one of those RJ45 cable testers, a tone generator, and an inductive tone wand (the latter two come in a kit at some discount). Also get a telephone polarity tester and an inductive 120V voltage sensor pen (so you can double-check that the nearby electrical circuit is really off...).

 

[Mday]

the bulk cabling i have is solid conductor, which is stiff and should not be used as patch cables. the constant bending a patch cable goes through will cause the solid conductors to break sooner or later. oh, i got that solid conductor cabling from homedepot.

i have purchased patch cables (with plugs already) from www.pccables.com and www.cyberguys.com. www.dalco.com also has nice prices too.

cyberguys finally got some slim boots, so i have some of those. i got my plugs (cheap, thin gold plate) from pccables.
as for tools, you'll want a crimper, and perhaps a punch and wire cutters. shop around.