Office New Build Structured Cabling

What is perceived wisdom these days with running structured cabling in a new office build? Cat5, 6 or 7?

Certainly not Cat5 !

Cat5e using decent quality full copper cable or Cat6.

For a new build I would use Cat6 but bear in mind that it's more difficult to work with than Cat5e.

Cat5e will probably be more than sufficient for most needs - Cat5 not so much.

Cat5 - avoid. Only certified for 100Mbps ethernet. But it's almost impossible to buy these days anyway.

Cat5e - good. Fine up to 2.5Gbps over 100m

Cat6 - not so good. Fine up to 5Gbps over 100m (but have you ever seen any equipment that does 5Gbase-T?) or 10Gbps only over shorter distances, so not really worth the extra, although take it if you can get it at the same price as Cat5e.

Cat6A - good. Fine up to 10Gbps over 100m. But thicker and harder to install. If you can get it for the same or similar cost as Cat5e then you might as well, but don't pay a big premium.

Cat7 - avoid. It's not a ratified standard, and gives no benefit over Cat6A. If you are forced into buying something that claims to be Cat7, make sure it is certified to "meet or exceed Cat6A standards"

Cat8 - avoid. Was designed for 40G copper in data centres, which never got implemented.

My recommendation: put managed switches in wiring closets near your users. Run Cat5e from outlets to the closet, and single-mode fibre from the closets to a central fibre switch, in a star configuration.

Edited by candlerb (Tue 03-Sep-24 15:22:56)

Cat6 will be fine, no need to involve the expense of Cat6A and having to ground it. If there are areas with specific high bandwidth needs then consider running fibre out to them, but the bandwidth requirements for most office activities are very low.

> Cat6 will be fine, no need to involve the expense of Cat6A and having to ground it.

Cat6A is unshielded twisted pair. There's nothing to ground.

Some flavours of Cat7 and Cat8 do have shielding (another reason to avoid them)

Every reel of Cat6A cable I've seen is shielded but I've just checked Excel's catalogue and they do offer U/UTP Cat6A in a higher fire rating than normal cable. So with that in mind, see my response as saying not to bother with shielded Cat6A and to run with normal Cat6.

In a commercial environment where the ceilings and floors often come up, and walls are partitions there's not a huge benefit from front-loading a load of costs on trying to future proof an installation.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

What is perceived wisdom these days with running structured cabling in a new office build? Cat5, 6 or 7?

You haven't explained the office type or the business type. That alters what you put in. if its a standard office, moving small amounts of data, stay with copper, if you are seeing creative folk ask them what they need, but put a fibre backbone in.

i would also look at how the cable is laid so that upgrades are quick and easy. As others have said you can't really future proof the install but you can make upgrading alot easier.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

What is perceived wisdom these days with running structured cabling in a new office build? Cat5, 6 or 7?

Cat6 or Cat6A.

Although the latter is properly a barsteward, installer-wise in some spaces and cable pathways, as 6A cabling can be substantially more stiff and thick than Cat 6 and a whole order more than trad old 5 / 5e cabling - depending on the cabling manufacturer system you opt for.

Although I’ve been out of the UK commercial structured cabling game for nigh on 20 years I was a BiCSI RCDD/NTS back in the early noughties, so feel free to ask questions.

No one really does shielded cabling in the UK / North American / Aussie commercial cabling install market. That very much remains (or did) a continental / Germanic thing. Pain in the [censored] too.

Edited by Pheasant (Sun 20-Oct-24 01:23:53)