Help me find a cheap 20' ethernet cable

HeraldS

I'm looking for a cheap 20' ethernet cable. Best Buy is too expensive- I imagine most brick & mortar stores will be the same way. I'm looking on monoprice.com and they've got good prices but I don't know exactly which kind I need- cat6, cat5e, don't know what the difference is. Just need something I can run from my laptop to the router or airport so I can play D2 as the wireless isn't really cutting it. Advise away!

TheKoolEagle

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812107690

never never never buy any cables from a brick and mortar store, the priceup is absolutely ridiculous.

edit: extra reading funtimes for you!

Cat 5: Out of the three types of cable we’ll be discussing, Category 5 is the most basic. Cat 5 cable is available in two varieties: Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP), the type widely used in the United States, and Screened Twisted Pair (SCTP), which has shielding to provide a measure of extra protection against interference, but is rarely used outside of Europe. Cables belonging to Category 5 are either solid or stranded: Solid Cat 5 is more rigid, and the better choice if data needs to be transmitted over a long distance, while Stranded Cat 5 is very flexible and most likely to be used as patch cable. Cat 5 cable can support 10 or 100 Mbps Ethernet, and has a capability of up to 100MHz.

Cat 5e: Cat 5e (which stands for Category 5, enhanced) cable goes along the same lines as basic Cat 5, except that it fulfills higher standards of data transmission. While Cat 5 is common in existing cabling systems, Category 5e has almost entirely replaced it in new installations. Cat 5e can handle data transfer at 1000 Mbps, is suitable for Gigabit Ethernet, and experiences much lower levels of near-end crosstalk (NEXT) than Cat 5.

Cat 6: Of the three cable categories we’re discussing, Category 6 is the most advanced and provides the best performance. Just like Cat 5 and Cat 5e, Category 6 cable is typically made up of four twisted pairs of copper wire, but its capabilities far exceed those of other cable types because of one particular structural difference: a longitudinal separator. This separator isolates each of the four pairs of twisted wire from the others, which reduces crosstalk, allows for faster data transfer, and gives Category 6 cable twice the bandwidth of Cat 5! Cat 6 cable is ideal for supporting 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and is able to operate at up to 250 MHz. Since technology and standards are constantly evolving, Cat 6 is the wisest choice of cable when taking any possible future updates to your network into consideration. Not only is Category 6 cable future-safe, it is also backward-compatible with any previously-existing Cat 5 and Cat 5e cabling found in older installations.

bowen

cat5 should be fine for residential, it'll also be cheaper (like a few cents) than 5e, and slightly more than 6.

wonderpug

monoprice.com is often cheaper than NewEgg.

Burtletoy

wonderpug wrote: »

monoprice.com is often cheaper than NewEgg.

But in this case, it appears to be approximatly 80cents more expensive.

(I was also gonna say monoprice.com, but that newegg one does win this time)

Cabezone

There is no reason for a person to buy cat5 instead of cat5e for their home.

Jebus314

I would also say though, that before you get carried away with the FASTEST CABLE EVER!, it's worth remembering that most cable internet maxes out at 2-20 Mbps. Which is way less than the 100 Mbps of cat 5. So if you are only using the cable for internet connectivity, it wont be an issue for several years. However, the expensive cable and fios internet options do get up into the 100 Mbps range now, so you just have to be aware of what you have.

Also, even if you have fios and cat 6, you computer might still have a slow ethernet card (I think if it says Fast Ethernet, it's 100 Mpbs).

So in conclusion you should just buy Cat 6, because HOLY SHIT 10Gbps! Also, it's probably only like 6 dollars more.

Cabezone

...are you seriously calling a 2 dollar cable expensive? Also....who the fuck has an Ethernet card? Motherboards have supported gigabit ethernet for years....shit maybe even a decade.

Tofystedeth

Even then, not all onboard NICs support GigE. Especially not the older ones. The laptop I'm typing this post on was bought new about 4 years ago and doesn't support it.

And I'm pretty sure when he says "expensive cable" he's talking about cable ISPs, not ethernet cables.
Unless of course you're referring to the OP, in which case, he means the insanely overpriced cables they sell at B&M stores.

bowen

Yeah if you save $20 getting cat5 over cat5e, that's $20 you can use to grab like 2 pizzas at pizza hut. Cat5 should be more than sufficient for home networking. The difference is tiny in bulk though, like, a few dimes. But wholesale you'll see bigger differences.

bowen

Hell they were selling cat3 UTP cables at walmart up until a year ago that were about $10 cheaper than cat5. Not that you should go that low.

Draygo

Get at least cat5e, its not even a 20$ differance, more like 50 cents.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812120453
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812107690 (dunno if that price is a typo but its still 7$ inc shipping)

Compare that to $8 + FS on a cat5: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812167024

bowen

Yeah I was going under the assumption OP would be buying 100 cables like we do.

TheKoolEagle

yeah usually when i am going to buy ethernet cable I buy at least 10 cables, although that was a hell of a deal last time, for 10+ 100ft cables it was $6 a cable.

yeah, I ended up giving a lot to my friends

corky842

A bit longer than you need, but it's $3 with free shipping:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812339102

HeraldS

Awesome guys thanks for the help. One last question: is there any noticeable performance drop off with a 100ft cable? That's roughly how far the TV and comfy couch are from the router and assuming I can run it in a way that won't cause people to trip over it I'd rather plug straight into the router than an airport in the TV room.

Spam

Shouldn't be an issue - Cat5e cables are good for up to 100m (300ft) as long as you don't run them alongside power cables or kink/damage the cable in any way.

HeraldS

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'm going to end up going with a longer cable. Are there any differences between these two other than price? Doesn't look like it but I'd like to be sure.

bowen

Shouldn't be. Different style clipy protector thing.