Which cat5e cable?

For wiring up my home network, what type of cable do I choose from the following:

-Cat5e
-Cat5e UTP
-Cat5e FTP

I'm guessing that UTP is unshielded, I've no idea what FTP is (fibre?) in the cabling context. If a cable is designated just Cat5e, does that mean that it's shielded?

Which of the above should I choose for my gigabit home network?

Cat 5e UTP is what you need. FTP is stranded cable for patch leads not backbone wiring. For shielded it would be STP.

Hi, Cat5e UTP (Unshielded Twisted-Pair) solid core for wired network installation.

http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/acatalog/Cat5e_Solid_Ca...

Edited by deleted (Thu 07-Oct-10 14:40:21)

Thanks for the feedback guys. My next question: I'll be having cat5e cabling from four rooms in my house going to the garage where I'll have a network switch. My understanding is that each room will have the cable terminated at a single face plate/wall outlet module, but can the other ends of the cables (in the garage) also be terminated at wall outlet modules housed in a 4-way face plate or do I need a patch panel? What's the difference between a patch panel and a terminating faceplate/wall outlet module?

I'll also have a single cable going from a wall outlet sited next to the incoming ADSL socket to the garage, terminating at a single socket. The plan is for this single socket to be plugged into a switch into which the other 4 sockets will also be plugged. Will this setup work as a home gigabit LAN with a shared broadband connection?

I've no doubt asked a similar question in a previous post so apologies in advance, but I'm just trying to get my head around what I can do that'll work, given that I've been reading all sorts of networking product guides which mention cabinet and 10" patch panels, all of which seems like overkill for my needs.

No need to use a patch panel unless you have alot of wiring. A patch panel just allows you to get 24 outlets in a 19 inch rack where as the equivalent in faceplates would take up alot of room.
Done this plenty of times for friends.

I take it you mean that your router is located near the BT master and you are using cat 5 cable from this to the switch in the garage:

BT -- ADSL router --- cat 5 --- switch ---- house wiring

If so that's exactly how it should be.

Did you read the automatedhome guides I pointed you towards yet?

While a full-height cabinet is overkill, a small wallmount, or even just a couple of brackets to fix a patch panel to is a fine idea - I wouldn't do it any other way than to use a patch panel...

1) You mention 4 rooms. Assuming you only want one location in each room to have a wall outlet, I would put two RJ45 outlets into each faceplate and run the cable now - if you buy two reels it is literally no extra work, and what you want to avoid at all costs is winding up with a series of mini-switches everywhere 5 years from now because you can't be bothered crawling about in the attic, again.

2) With that, 4 rooms x 2 RJ45 = 8 rj45 at your core. Add it up and you'll find a patch panel is probably break-even already, and as a typical 1U patch panel has 24 outlets on it, you have room to expand to additional rooms without having to redo the core later.

3) A proper panel is a lot easier to work with than a series of wall outlets at your core.

4) If you buy a rack-mountable switch (not all that expensive), you then have a nice easy way to tidily interconnect the two.

These things have a habit of spiralling out of control once you get started. I used to have once PC, a printer and that was it, there's now about 15 networked devices in the house.

And you never know, I might one day get around to cabling the house properly myself! Cobbler's shoes and all that.


Edit - just had a rummage on ebay, 24-port 19" panels can be had from £15 new, £20ish for brand-name ones. That's cheaper than 4 faceplates, 4 backboxes, and 8 RJ45 modules, before you even consider the faffage.

Edited by deleted (Fri 08-Oct-10 13:01:45)

In reply to a post by joconnell:

I'll also have a single cable going from a wall outlet sited next to the incoming ADSL socket to the garage, terminating at a single socket. The plan is for this single socket to be plugged into a switch into which the other 4 sockets will also be plugged. Will this setup work as a home gigabit LAN with a shared broadband connection?

Thw way to think of this is to consider your switch as the centre of the network, and everything else branches away from this.

The router should be considered as just another device. Connect this to the switch, and connect your PCs, etc, to the switch too.

This way, if your switch and devices are gigabit-capable, they will talk to each other as quickly as possible, and anything bound for the internet will go via that seperate "branch" to the router.

One small thing, depending on the switch you buy for the core and the router you have, you may, at worst, need to buy a single crossover patch cable. If the switch or the router have what is described as an "uplink" port, no need, the kit will sort itself out.

Edited by deleted (Fri 08-Oct-10 13:09:10)

Use Cat6 for longer distances of reliable GigE.

We've already done this bit!

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/multiuser/f/3909882...

D'OH!