Belden Cat 6a Cable

[pmokover]

I’m planning to install Cat6a cable in a house that’s currently being renovated.

I have never used Belden brand cable before but it has been highly recommended. If you’ve had any experience with it (good or bad) please give me your feedback.

Also, what about shielded vs. non-shielded 6a? This is for a house in a residential neighborhood. Electrical noise from the usual household appliances but nothing commercial or industrial within a mile. I’m willing to spend the extra $ for shielded if it will really be an advantage but would rather avoid the extra thickness if it will not.

Thanks.

Peter

 

[sfx2000]

I’m planning to install Cat6a cable in a house that’s currently being renovated.

I have never used Belden brand cable before but it has been highly recommended. If you’ve had any experience with it (good or bad) please give me your feedback.

Peter

I use Beldin bulk cable here, and we also use them as one of our vendors in the data center - good stuff...

For normal house stuff - don't need shielded cable, and you might be ok with CAT5 in any event, depending on the lengths of the runs...

Quick Tip - don't run ethernet cable in parallel with electrical - if you have to cross, do it perpendicular...

 

[NXIL]

I use Belden bulk cable here

Hi, blast from your past here.

Sfx, are still recommending Belden? It's about 3x the price of Monoprice cable, which by spec looks pretty good ("it looked good on paper!") I have used monoprice patch cables in the past and they have been fine.

For home use, about 4 100 foot runs to different rooms.

Also, keystone jacks, these would be Cat6: Monoprice, Belden Keyconnect, ICC HD, or do you have any recommendations?

Thank you!

 

[coxhaus]

Belkin cable is what I used many years ago when I worked. I guess Belkin and Belden are the same now. It is solid copper which works best with POE. It will last many many years. Don't buy anything that is not solid copper. AT&T has excellent cable also. They were my contractor for large jobs. They were called Southwestern Bell back then.

PS
I don't think they are the same Company after looking them up. I have been retired about 15 years so maybe I have not kept up. Make sure it is solid copper. Only patch cables should be twisted copper but solid copper. All the cable has so many twists per inch but I am talking about the wire in the cable.

 

[pmokover]

Yes, I did use Belden Cat6a.

 

[Trip]

I guess Belkin and Belden are the same now. [...]I don't think they are the same Company after looking them up.

Was going to say, not even close. Belden is a (or the) leader in the space. All their stuff is TAA/BAA, commercial-class, tested and certified. Belkin, on the other hand, is very much a mass-market, commodity supply chain brand. To the average Joe, a patch cable is a patch cable, but for those in the know, commercial applications especially, you go with the likes of Belden, Panduit, Hubbell, Leviton, Ortonics, Seimens, etc.

 

[NXIL]

Yes, I did use Belden Cat6a.

Very nice--and Belden keystone jacks as well?

 

[NXIL]

Was going to say, not even close. Belden is a (or the) leader in the space. All their stuff is TAA/BAA, commercial-class, tested and certified. Belkin, on the other hand, is very much a mass-market, commodity supply chain brand. To the average Joe, a patch cable is a patch cable, but for those in the know, commercial applications especially, you go with the likes of Belden, Panduit, Hubbell, Leviton, Ortonics, Seimens, etc.

Their stuff is really nice, it looks to be of the highest quality, but, as usual for something so good, it costs 3 times or more what Monoprice cable and keystone jacks cost.

Hubbell keystones also look nice.

Trip, your thoughts for a home set up? Cat6a is definitely not necessary here, but Monoprice cat6 versus Belden or even ICC?

 

[NXIL]

Belkin cable is what I used many years ago when I worked. I guess Belkin and Belden are the same now. It is solid copper which works best with POE. It will last many many years. Don't buy anything that is not solid copper. AT&T has excellent cable also. They were my contractor for large jobs. They were called Southwestern Bell back then.

PS
I don't think they are the same Company after looking them up. I have been retired about 15 years so maybe I have not kept up. Make sure it is solid copper. Only patch cables should be twisted copper but solid copper. All the cable has so many twists per inch but I am talking about the wire in the cable.

Thank you coxhaus--hey did you read Steve Wozniak's book?

iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon

Part of the reason we have Apple and the internet today: Steve Wozniak saw an AT&T guy installing new telephone wire, asked him "if he had any extra".

The AT&T guy said he didn't right then.

The next day, the AT&T guy returned with a full big huge spool of wire, new, thousands of feet, and gave it to Woz. He and his friends used that wire to connect their houses all up and down the block with a simple network (Morse Code level). Whoever that AT&T guy is, he's a hero.

 

[coxhaus]

I did that. My neighbor and I played games back in the old days when you had dial up modems. My daughters and his were always on the phone. We never could get any time on the phone. This is before cell phones. I had just gone to a cabling conference in Dallas or Fort Worth can't remember and I was able to get an end of a roll of CAT5. Luckily my computer room was on his side of the house. I drilled a hole in the wall and ran CAT5 from my switch over to his house. I put it in that cheap black plastic water pipe. It lasted 4 or 5 years until he moved away.

 

[NXIL]

My daughters and his were always on the phone. I drilled a hole in the wall and ran CAT5 from my switch over to his house. I put it in that cheap black plastic water pipe. It lasted 4 or 5 years until he moved away.

Lol a rotary dial princess phone?

Was recently watching an old movie with a younger person. Someone picked up a phone, put their finger in the rotary disk, and started to dial. Youngster said "what are they doing?" I said "that's how you dialed, you spun a wheel and it clicked out the number". This led to peels of laughter.

Ha--remember remembering a lot of phone numbers of various people? Now I have to think hard to remember mine.

That is very cool you did that!

 

[CaptainSTX]

I got a new set of hearing aids and they started making the sound you used to get when you left an old phone off the hook. Described it just that way to the young technician and he had no idea what I was talking about.

Turns out that is the low battery warning sound. I guess everything get recycled including old sounds.

 

[NXIL]

started making the sound you used to get when you left an old phone off the hook.

"The hook"? WHY would a phone have "A HOOK"?

And "hang up": why would I HANG my phone anywhere? Makes no sense!

Edit: New Apple iHook, a fifty dollar option. "Ends your call and keeps your phone handy, within reach."