Guides/Choosing a cable
Choosing the
right cable.
Five questions, in the order that actually decides it.
Bulk or terminated?
It is decided by the route and by the length you need, not by the network.
Bulk
Arrives on a reel with no connectors, so you cut each lead to the length the route really needs. Also what you want where a moulded connector will not fit through the opening.
Needs a crimping tool and connectors, and the seven steps in the Installation Guide.
Terminated
Router to console, switch to computer, a run along a skirting board. Ready to plug in, no tools — that is the terminated range.
Which category?
Start from the equipment you actually have. The category cannot make a connection faster than the line coming into the building, or faster than the ports at each end.
Cat 5e, Cat 6 and Cat 7 describe how each cable is built: what sits between the pairs, and the conductor.
| If your connection is | Look at |
|---|---|
| Up to 1 Gbps — most home fibre and cable | Cat 5e or Cat 6 |
| 1 Gbps, with headroom for a busier network | Cat 6 |
| Above 1 Gbps, or a multi-gigabit switch | Cat 7 |
Buying a higher category to fix a slow connection. If the line into the building gives 600 Mbps, no cable makes it faster — a better cable only stops being the limit.
Where the category does earn its price is headroom. The rating of each range is in Speed and Performance.
How long?
Measure the route the cable will really take, not the straight line across the room — round corners, along the skirting, behind furniture — and add a margin. A cable pulled taut is a cable that will fail at a connector eventually.
The ceiling is 100 metres, and it applies to the whole path between the two devices. In a home you are nowhere near it; the reason to measure is neatness and slack, not the limit.
Eighteen lengths in all, drawn on two scales so the short ones stay readable. Between 25 and 100 metres both forms exist, and that is where the decision is actually made: a terminated cable saves you the tools, a reel gives you the exact metre.
Pre-made cables come in fixed lengths, so a 12-metre route means buying 15 and coiling three behind the furniture. Bulk cable and a crimping tool give you the exact length instead, which is usually why people move to a reel.
Which conductor?
Two metals are used in network cable, and the difference is worth understanding before you compare two prices.
Copper
The lowest resistance. What the cabling standards specify, and what any application that also carries power over the cable calls for.
Copper-clad aluminium
An aluminium core with a copper skin: lighter, more economical, and about 55 % higher in resistance. Carries data at gigabit rates over the distances found in a home.
Neither is a defect — they are different products at different prices. What matters is knowing which one you are buying, so the conductor of every Mr. Tronic range is stated on its product listing.
Which jacket?
The jacket decides where the cable can live, not how fast it goes.
PVC
The standard indoor jacket.
Outdoor
An outdoor-grade jacket, used on our outdoor range.
Flat
A low-profile jacket that follows a skirting board or a door frame. See the flat range.
Network cables
for a home lab.
A home lab is a small network built at home to learn and to test: a router, a switch, a few mini PCs or a home server, and often a NAS. Most of its ports run at 1 Gbps, which Cat 5e and Cat 6 both carry.
Short and exact
Most cables in a home lab go from the switch to a machine a metre or two away. Pick the length the route really needs and leave a little slack — a lead pulled taut fails at the connector eventually. Patch cables start at 0.25 metres: the 0.25 and 0.5 m lengths come in packs of ten.
Bundled cables
In a home lab cables run side by side. Cat 6 adds a cross separator between the pairs.
Colour by role
One colour for the internet uplink, another for the lab network, another for management. You can trace any cable at a glance, and the colour of each lead is on its product listing.
Above 1 Gbps
If your switch or NAS has multi-gigabit ports, the category starts to matter: the comparison is in the range table below.
PoE requires a copper conductor. The details are in Wiring a Connected Home.
What Mr. Tronic cables are rated at.
| Range | Data rate | Inside | Conductor | Choose it if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cat 5e | 1 Gbps | Twisted pairs, no separator | CCA · AWG24 | You need 1 Gbps on a simple run |
| Cat 6 | 1 Gbps | Cross separator between the pairs (except flat) | CCA · AWG24 | Your cables run bundled or next to other cables |
| Cat 7 | 10 Gbps | Each pair shielded, plus an overall braid | Copper · AWG28 | You need 10 Gbps |
Length, colour and jacket are stated on each product listing.