You both make fair points in response to my challenge - and in honesty there's no need for a(nother) one-upmanship contest, so I'm not going to continue it (even if there was much more to say than "I'm right, you're wrong", "am too", "are not" etc at each other until we get bored ). Nonetheless, using my experience and time in the industry, I stand by my remarks, and don't see the need for the extra expense of Cat6 cabling over Cat5e nor would I recommend it to the op unless the price difference is so close as to being only a couple of quid
Just to add to the discussion (and hopefully not pouring petrol onto the fire)... ...during a very recent (i.e. not finished yet) complete rewire of my house I installed CAT6 FTP throughout. Yes it was more expensive than CAT5 FTP but not extravagantly so. I justify it on the basis of future proofing and I am very happy with the additional cost over CAT5 FTP. For information, I got the CAT6 FTP reel here: http://www.network-cabling.co.uk/st...73/cat-6-ftp-cable-lsoh-violet-305m-1445.html. Be warned, the web page says it comes in a box but mine came on a bloody great wooden reel. Thanks to forum member saspro for putting me onto that supplier, it was significantly cheaper than anywhere else I had found.
Wow, thanks for all the help. All your replies have been really useful, and as soon as I move in and get my temporary network running i'll start buying and cabling like mad. I do though have to buy absolutely everything, I will be streaming HD res over PC to PC and lots of big files will be transferred. So if anyone has any recommendations of decent switches etc that would be brilliant. Thanks a lot
its over 3x what i pay for CAT5e on the same 305m reels and around a house Cat5e is quite capable of running on a gigabit network which has yet to become the standard.
Yet to become a standard? What? Why on earth would you NOT wire your new house for gigabit speed? To me it seems like when buying a house some extra cost on the damn ethernet cable shouldn't be a huge problem. Personally I'd make sure to get the good stuff straight away, there's nothing more annoying than having to re-do something just because it doesn't work reliably. Can't say anything about the switches, I'm using a 8-port Gbit Zyxel that's been working like a charm for a year, but again, I have very little experience with other switches or the transfer speeds through them.
Agreed, it is about 3 times what I paid for a 305m box of CAT5 UTP which I use for making up ad-hoc cables. But like I said, I consider installing the CAT6 FTP to be future proofing as the cables are routed inside the walls and would not be able to be replaced without major building work. I think the CAT6 FTP should be okay for the next 10 years. In the end it is only about £100 or so extra, meh... Regarding switches, I haven't bought one yet but I am looking at this one: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Netgear-ProSafe-GS116UK-16-Port-Gigabit-10-100-1000-Unmanaged-Switch. I need it to be very quiet, energy efficient and gigabit with 16 ports. If anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful.
CAT5e is capable of gigabit and is not the defacto standard yet most home network equipment is still 10/100. Cat6 can do 10gigabit but only over a short distance (<50m~) and ive yet to see any consumer grade products with 10gigabit network ports fair enough techies like use want the speed but to 90% of consumers 10/100 is still perfectly fine.
Yea but he IS asking it on this forum Heck, most people don't even know what difference it makes and are happy so long as the Facetube works OK. But really, if you do stream and move lots of bits, get the cat6. Just in case.
suppose it cant hurt if you have the cash. however id never put it in my house as i know ill move within the next 10 years so i wouldnt really able to take advantage of my future proof cabling id still opt for cat5 unless you know your staying put
I'll not step foot into the cat5e/cat6 argument. I WILL say though, if you are going to do this yourself, get yourself good connectors and a proper crimping tool, the amount of times I've fixed someone's network by re-heading their cables is unbelievable. Be sure to check up on proper procedure, you can lose gigabit just because you took some twists out Also, if you are going to conceal the cable and use wall plugs (recommended) then similarly get yourself a proper Krone tool. It will save you a world of hassle. Reference switches; with that many computers I'd recommend a separate, 8 port, gigabit switch, not only will it negate any daft problems your router may cause between computers, it also means you can have that gigabit network between your computers, your ISPs router probably won't support it. Any switch from a good brand should do, but before you buy, check out reviews, even great manufacturers sometimes make duff models. Keep in mind some crazy people write reviews. There was a review that said he was p****d because his £40 Netgear gigabit switch died out of warranty (2 years!!!) and they wouldn't replace it, but I would read that as "£40 switch lasted 2 YEARS!!!" which is impressive. Hope any of that helps!! P.S. If you're thinking of running video around the house in the future, there is going to be (hopefully) a new standard for HD video that uses Cat5/6 etc. You may want to run some extra to the telly, but then with 5 computers i guess one of them is sat under the TV anyways
The visitor message attacking me and following me around the forum slagging me off makes you look 11 years old. I disagreed with you. I'm very sorry this upset you.
Well there's your lesson then. If you're going to give advice, make sure it's correct first or refrain from advising. And for the record, I wasn't following you around the forums 'attacking' you, merely correcting your errors and pointing out a few things. If that's a bit too big of an apple to chew for you, then I apologise. I'm far from 11 years old, and doing what I do for a living has given me plenty of experience in some fields, something I'm happy to share with others if it helps them. Get over yourself and get your facts straight next time please.
People are free to give opinions to the best of their knowledge, right or wrong, it's called a discussion forum. Just because you say something is "correct" doesn't mean that another person has had the same experiences as you. The passive aggressiveness in all your replies is, however, not welcome.
