Which CAT6 patch panel to buy?

[NoodleTech]

I need a 48 port patch panel and I have several in mind.

APC 48 Port for $263
Tripp Lite 48 Port for $110
Monoprice 48 Port for $60.90

Why is there such a big difference in price between the 3? What's so good about the APC panel?

Any other panels I should consider?

I will be using this Solid Core 550MHz CAT6 UTP bulk cable along with this keystone jack in the installation.

I have heard that problems could arise from using cable, keystones, and patch panels of different brands. Should I consider returning the bulk cable and buying monoprice cable so I can have monoprice cable, keystone, and patch panel? Thanks.

 

[seepy83]

From what I know, the only way you will get a true CAT-6 rating for the installation is if you use the same brand for cable, jacks, and patch panel. For example, each manufacturer might make slight changes to their jacks to compensate for the spec of the cable.

 

[cmetz]

seepy83, I keep hearing that claim on the Internet, and it's certainly encouraged by marketing literature, but I have not found a credible first source that says that you must use the same brand or brands with a marketing partnership. Thinking about it a bit - this is why we have standards! If it truly doesn't interoperate at spec, the standard is broken. I don't believe this claim, personally, and I have not seen anything thus far that convinces me that it's necessary to do everything the same or partnered vendors. It's just like the over-cat5 and over-cat6 racket.

NoodleTech, APC is not a data comm manufacturer last I checked, while it's possible that they are making their own, they are ar more likely to just be private labelling some other vendor's stuff. And the vendors who that would be are likely not first tier (or at least, it's not their first tier stuff), or it would have the manufacturer's name on it instead. The same goes with Tripp-Lite. In both cases, you're paying a premium for the name, and maybe in APCs case for one-vendor sourcing.

With Monoprice, you know you're getting generic Chinese stuff. Nothing I've ever gotten from them was superlative, but so far everything I've gotten from them has worked just fine and been exactly as described. If you're going to buy cheap generic stuff, they're probably a good source.

If you want to spend money for something better, look at Ortronics and Panduit.

 

[spidey07]

cmetz, that's part of the manufacturers push. If you use their total solution their warranty/guarantee is much longer because the installers are trained/certified in that solution. IIRC, Anixter used to do this very kind of interoperability testing so there may be more info on their site.

ortronics, siemens, panduit, AMP are all top notch.

OP - if you're doing this yourself be sure you read up on PROPER installation of cat6. bend radius, twists right up to punchdown, grounding/bonding, etc. It's not as forgiving as cat5 because it's meant to use much higher frequencies. So many uncertified/untrained installers just punch it down and call it good. If you can see if you can rent a cable certifier/scanner as well or have somebody scan the install for you.

I HIGHLY recommend using panels with jacks that attach to the panel frame, or groups of them. A straight 110 punchdown is near impossible to get to cat6 or 6a specs.

 

[imagoon]

We have done informal testing on the end to end using some high end fluke testers and in general, short runs the brands actually don't matter. Longer runs we have seen differences worth noting such signal loss variations between brands The biggest thing tends to be that the parts often work together better though. IE a mohawk cable will fit nicely in a mohawk keystone where the same belkin cable might be tight because the sheaths are larger.

Most home users will make mistakes at the punch ends by unwrapping to much cable etc which does more damage than the wrong brand of keystone at the sub 150ft lengths.

 

[skyking]

I'd expect to pay a couple hundred for a quality 48 port panel. That said, I've never seen APC used in the field. I tend to use Allentel, the house brand at Graybar Electric. I have yet to get a port from them I could not certify. I've used AMP and Ortronics as well.

 

[CptCrunch]

Originally posted by: spidey07
cmetz, that's part of the manufacturers push. If you use their total solution their warranty/guarantee is much longer because the installers are trained/certified in that solution. IIRC, Anixter used to do this very kind of interoperability testing so there may be more info on their site.

ortronics, siemens, panduit, AMP are all top notch.

OP - if you're doing this yourself be sure you read up on PROPER installation of cat6. bend radius, twists right up to punchdown, grounding/bonding, etc. It's not as forgiving as cat5 because it's meant to use much higher frequencies. So many uncertified/untrained installers just punch it down and call it good. If you can see if you can rent a cable certifier/scanner as well or have somebody scan the install for you.

I HIGHLY recommend using panels with jacks that attach to the panel frame, or groups of them. A straight 110 punchdown is near impossible to get to cat6 or 6a specs.

Can you recommend some patch panels like that? I will be installing a 24 port cat6 patch panel at some point with cable I bought from monoprice. Any directions/instructions that I should follow when punching these down at the wall and at the patch panel? I didn't realize cat6 was that much pickier than cat5e (makes sense) when punching down.