Is there any point of the extra expensive of using Cat6 cable for a home network?
At the moment it is just for a single "temporary" connection through the loft for my TV box, it will need to be able to support watching 1 HD channel and the recording of 1 HD channel simultaneously.
I am getting some building work done in the New Year and I am thinking about running cables through the walls then but not sure if it's worth the hassle with wireless being so fast and reliable these days.
Any opinions?
Depends on the kit you're connecting in, I think, but IMHO Cat5e is fine; Gb ethernet seems happy on it, so does PoE.
Cat5e. Gigabit will work fine on it.
Thanks gents, I'll go with 5e.
Cat6 needs laying correctly otherwise you'll never get the desired speed anyhow, so for home yes definitely Cat5e
For some reason I struggle to stream 780p content and above wirelessly, so opted for powerline connections. A fair bit more expensive than laying cable, but seems a whole load better than using wireless. You can also get a wireless plug too, which effectively acts as a range extender for your wireless router.
This sort of thing...
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/networking/networking/powerline-home-networking/netgear-xavb1601-100uks-homeplug-200-mbps-powerline-adapter-kit-13148678-pdt.html
Cat5e here and I get copy speeds between two Macs with fast SSDs in them over about 40 metres of it almost as fast as between SSDs within each Mac.
I'm currently installing Cat6 throughout the house. It isn't much more expensive than Cat5e now. OK, it does require extra care, but may be a better bet in the long term.
Cat5 here (and not proper fixed stuff, just chopped up patch cables) streams 20gig 1080p rips from a NAS no problem at all. Even works if someone else is using sonos in another room (music stored on the same NAS)
5e isn;t maxed out by SSDs in RAID streaming to various computers / iPads etc in the house.
Get 5e and forget about it. We'll be long dead before network speeds are throttled by wiring.
Get 5e and forget about it. We'll be long dead before network speeds are throttled by wiring.
Agreed... in fact, I'd seriously doubt necessity of data cabling at all by the time we are dead.