A major part of creating a viable network involves the installation of a cabling system. A solid cabling system is a good investment that will not only meet your current networking needs, but will last through your next-generation network as well.
While WI-Fi and other wireless network technologies have improved greatly over the years, nothing beats the reliability and performance of a wired network in your home or business. One challenge that people face is what kind of cable they need for their needs.
Although there are dozens of network cable types, the fact is only 3 types of network cable is commonly used in home and small business networks: Category 3 (Cat3), Category 5 (Cat5), and Category 6 (Cat6).
Although “Wifi" is simpler for a lot of people, due to multimedia sharing, bandwidth on some home networks, some users really want a hard-wired home networking solution. A wired network allows a private, high speed, network at home for Internet access, file sharing, media streaming, online gaming (console or PC), IP security cameras, or other standard Ethernet type wiring use.
There are certain design considerations that need to be addressed based on needs. Answering these questions will affect quantities, tools and materials needed.
If the internet comes over a cable into the house move the cable modem there so it will be able to supply internet access to the entire network. Another consideration is the amount of space needed to hold the network equipment.
This is the most difficult consideration. For single floor homes the basement may be the best path. For multi-story homes you have to be creative. Outside may be an option or use an old laundry chute. The other consideration is cable length. The max cable length for up to gigabit speeds over copper UTP cabling is 100 meters (300 feet). This should be plenty for most home applications.
This will determine what kind of switch to get. 10mbps is faster than most home internet connection. If you just “surf” the internet, use a 10 megabit switch. If you are planning on sharing multimedia over the network 100 megabit switches are available and reasonably priced. If you must have the fastest, go with a Cat6 Gigabit cable.
With high bandwidth applications and network systems venturing into factory environments, the need for shielded Cat 6 cable has increased. In these new areas of installation, the environment where the network cable is run has large amounts of EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference). Although Cat 6 cables have improved cable twist to reject noise and handle gigabit Ethernet this by itself is not enough for high EMI environments. A shielded Cat 6 cable helps in high EMI installations. These high performance cables ensure the data within the cable will be protected from EMI, resulting in higher speeds and better data transmission.
Shielding helps protect the data from electromagnetic interference from outside sources that could alter or weaken the signal traveling through the copper in the cable. The shields of the two connectors are electrically tied together by the drain wire. However, they will only become grounded if the jack they are placed in has its shielding tied to ground. If you are setting up a network with Category 6 shielded cables, you should use Cat 6 shielded couplers and jacks.
Category 6 and 6a cable must be properly installed and terminated to meet specifications. The cable must not be kinked or bent too tightly (the bend radius should be at least four times the outer diameter of the cable). The wire pairs must not be untwisted and the outer jacket must not be stripped back more than 1/2 inch (1.27 cm).
All shielded cables must be grounded for safety and effectiveness and a continuous shield connection maintained from end to end. Ground loops develop when there is more than one ground connection and the difference in common mode voltage potential at these ground connections introduces noise into the cabling.
What is Cat6? Cat6 components are interoperable between different vendors and are fully backward compatible. Cat6 has the same nominal Impedance of 100 Ohms as Cat5 and 5e components, but with tighter tolerance on Impedance variations. Transmission parameters are specified to 250 MHz, compared to 100 MHz for Cat 5/5e.
Do Cat6 components behave differently? The diameters of Cat6 cables range between 0.21 to 0.25 inch (5.3 - 5.8 mm) compared to Cat5/5e’s range of 0.19 to 0.22 inch (4.8 – 5.5 mm). Cat6 also has a tighter twist length to reduce crosstalk interference.
What about installation? Cat6 cables and components are installed similar to Cat5/5e. There are design and installation issues that contractors and installers must pay greater attention to; including cable terminations and the pathway fill.
Will Cat6 supersede Cat5/5e? Yes. The only question is when. The installed cost for Cat6 cabling can be about 20 % higher than Cat5e, but prices will decrease as usage increases.
Will Cat6 deliver what is promised? Yes. There are no technical obstacles. Test parameters and procedures to qualify Cat6 components to ensure interoperability between different vendor’s products are in place and detailed.
What about the installed performance compared with Cat5/5e? The biggest benefit is much-improved Signal-to-Noise Ratio at the Receiver: Cat6 provides about 16 times better Signal-to-Noise Ratio compared to Cat5/5e over a wide frequency range.
Why do we need Cat6? The real question is “is Cat5e good enough for today and in the foreseeable future?” The answer is “Yes, but…”. Network switch ports are often at the “marginally compliant” limits of the IEEE standard and susceptible to cabling and temperature variations. Cat6 provides fewer bit errors than Category 5e for 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T applications.
Always study and document the required cabling layout and the distances between the equipment to be cabled before starting a Cat6 cable installation.
Given that labor costs for installation are much higher than the material cost for cable; your first requirement is to use the highest grade cable available. Cat5e is the most common, but Cat6 is becoming the standard as it is rated for a higher frequency signal, a somewhat higher cable quality, and has tighter specifications for noise and crosstalk. Both Cat5e and Cat6 can handle gigabit speeds.
Both Cat5e and Cat6 use 10BaseT “twisted-pair” cabling, because it is ideal for either small, medium, or large networks that need flexibility and the capacity to expand as the number of network users grow. In a twisted-pair network, each PC has a twisted-pair cable that runs to a centralized hub. Twisted-pair is generally more reliable than thin coax networks because the hub is capable of correcting data errors and improving the network's overall transmission speed and reliability. Also known as “up linking” hubs, they can be chained together for even greater expansion.
Should you install the cabling yourself, or hire a contractor? The smaller the office network, the more tempting it is to install cabling in-house. While this will save installation costs, it is important to be sure that all the cabling is installed and tested to professional standards. If your network encompasses multiple rooms-and/or floors, then hiring a professional cable installer that has experience with data communications networks is the safest and most practical route. General electricians may not be familiar with all the requirements. Experienced cable installers such as Progressive Cabling will know the right grades of cables and connectors and have the knowledge and equipment to install and test a cabling system.
Category (Cat)5, 5e, 6 and 7 are different standards for cables used to transmit data through networks. All are twisted copper cables. The difference is based on their performance level.
Cat5 has become the world standard for connecting Ethernet devices. It is inexpensive and very effective; making it the most commonly used cable for connecting Ethernet devices. There are two types, the Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP), and the Screened Twisted Pair (SCTP). SCTP adds a protective covering to protect against interference. Cat5 is ideal For long distance communications as it is rigid and has the capacity to support 10-100 Mbps and 100MHz.
The gradual shift from standard 10/100 networks to gigabit networks has challenged Cat5 as it cannot support high speeds. This led to an upgraded version, Cat5e.
Cat5e was developed to makeCat5 compatible with gigabit networks and provide extra protection from interference. However Cat5e does not completely remove interference, which results in slow and often poor performance, but Cat5e does makes networks more reliable and faster.
Cat6 is more advanced than Cat5 and Cat5e. Like Cat 5 and 5e, it uses 4 twisted pairs of copper cables, but with much better performance. The difference comes from a longitudinal separator that keeps all 4 wires separate from one another, reducing interference or “cross talk”, and a faster rate of data transfer. Cat6 can be used in any network that employed Cat5 and Cat5e. Cat 6 is the next level standard for Ethernet connection.
Cat7 is the next generation cabling device for Ethernet connections. It improves internal signaling and exterior protection over Cat5 and Cat6 and can support 10gigabit connections adaptable to standard Ethernet connectors.
This video demonstrates how we used a remote control tank named Brutus to pull cable through a basket tray that is installed above the ceiling tiles in an office. For large cabling projects it is typically useful and necessary to install a ladder tray above the ceiling tiles to carry the large bundles of cables along the corridors of a floor. At this project, the General Contractor installed basket tray. Basket tray does not provide for easy access underneath which made it especially difficult to pull the cable along. Even getting a pull string through this tray was challenging. So, we bought a remote control tank. We named him Brutus. And we attached the pull string to his back and had him drive the string along the entire length of the tray.
Go Brutus!
When a new office design is in its initial stages, it is critical to consider proper handling of utilities, power water and cabling inside the walls and ceiling. For cabling, it is necessary to use hooks to hold the cables above the drop ceiling. When the installation of cable involves large numbers of cables traversing lengthy expanses, it is normal to install cable ladder trays up in the ceiling to carry the bulk of the cable along the main corridors of the office. Cable ladders vary in quality and cable handling capabilities. The amount of cable and the budget of the project will determine the type of cable ladder that will be built.
A higher quality cable ladder will, in the long run, save time and money during the installation phase of a cabling project. The alternative to a cable tray is to install cable conduit. Considerations in choosing to use a cable ladder tray system include the following: