What type of cable should I use to wire home network?

[dbocce3]

Hey everyone. I am getting ready to wire my house with Cat6 cable and I am not sure which type of cable to use. Should I use Cat6 Solid or Cat6 Stranded?

 

The cable will be pulled through walls, from the basement to the attic. Devices such as laptops, xbox 360, SageTV HD300, wireless router, etc. will be connected to this network.

 

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated! Thanks again!

 

John

[mikinho]

Typically solid is “recommended” for ceiling and in wall while stranded UTP is used for patch cables.  For short runs, less than 100 meters it honestly doesn’t matter much in terms of performance; however, stranded is used more frequently when retrofitting since it is easier to work with.

I used Cat 6A STP (Shielded Twisted Pair), Solid Conductor for my home but I doubt I would have noticed any difference going w/ some of less quality.  My recommendation is to use high quality connectors and connects.  I’ve seen a lot of people use Cat 6 cable then use Cat 5e connector andor patch panels and run into issues later.

[swoon]

Yeah, I have a huge spool of CAT6 solid (non-shielded) I bought about 6 years ago. I can attest that it is harder to work with than stranded, but I think it is more durable especially for pulling cable.

Ditto on the connectors. Everything should be CAT6. No use in pulling CAT6 only to use lower-quality connectors.

Make sure to pull extra enough cable, even if you don’t think you’ll need it 😉

I pulled 2x CAT6 (one used for phone and one for data) to each wall plate and I’ve had to go back and pull more.

[dbocce3]

Aaron and Michael,

 

Thank you for your continued support. Your suggestions and clarifications are much appreciated. Can either of you two recommend where (online) I should look for cable, and connectors?

[swoon]

I haven’t bought in 5 or 6 years. When I did buy, I purchased everything from Deep Surplus. You may have more luck shopping around now, but back then, CAT6 was quite a bit more expensive in a lot of places though Deep Surplus was reasonably priced.

[mikinho]

I bought my wire in bulk at http://www.lanshack.com/.  I also picked up my patch panel there.  For patch cables and connectors I picked them via http://www.monoprice.com/

[dbocce3]

You guys rock! Thank you so much for your feedback!

[Author]

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