Question about pre-terminated cat6 cables


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Cat6 cables that have terminated plugs on them from the factory, are they in the 'a' or 'b' configuration?  I am planning on running some cables for a small networking project and I am thinking of leaving one of the pre-made plugs on and will just need to use wall plates for the other end.  That means I will be using a punch down tool and I need to make sure that I set it up in the right configuration.

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B is the most common however, it should not really matter either way unless you are plugging one end into a coupler to connect to another cable for extension.

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B is the most common however, it should not really matter either way unless you are plugging one end into a coupler to connect to another cable for extension.

 

Wouldn't the wall plate be considered a coupler because I would be plugging another cat6 cable into it such as a switch?  But if the pre-made terminator is in the 'b' config then I do just need to make sure that my wall jack is also done that way.

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being as it is not listed i would say it is in configuration B as that is the industry standard.

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Well look at the first two pins. If the first two are orange it is safe to say that it is b. If the first two are green then it is safe to say that it is a.

The b standard goes like this:

Wo,o,wg,bl,wbl,g,wbr,br

The a standard reverses the green and the orange and looks like this:

Wg,g,wo,bl,wbl,o,wbr,br

W=white

G=green

O=orange

Bl=blue

Br=brown

When looking at the cable, the metal pins are facing you vs the clip facing you.

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being as it is not listed i would say it is in configuration B as that is the industry standard.

 

Well look at the first two pins. If the first two are orange it is safe to say that it is b. If the first two are green then it is safe to say that it is a.

The b standard goes like this:

Wo,o,wg,bl,wbl,g,wbr,br

The a standard reverses the green and the orange and looks like this:

Wg,g,wo,bl,wbl,o,wbr,br

W=white

G=green

O=orange

Bl=blue

Br=brown

When looking at the cable, the metal pins are facing you vs the clip facing you.

 

Cool....thanks.  When I start on this small project in a couple of weeks then that should make this very easy and simple.

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I just did this at my parents house a couple of months ago and I used the B configuration with no problems.  As others have mentioned, B is the most common used configuration now.

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So just as an update to this.  I was getting this project started over the weekend and figured out that this is not going to work out as intended.  Basically my house is broken down in 2 ways.  The first part (front part of the house) was built in the 50's and has a full basement, of which part of it is finished and the other part isn't.  The second part (family room, bedrooms, etc..)  of the house is an addition that was built onto it about 5-6 years ago and is a partial basement/crawl pace.  So of course the wiring and outlets are different between the two as building codes change as the years go on.  The front part of the house I had no trouble fishing wire pull through the wall as the outlets don't have conduit boxes but just run though the walls.  But the back part of the house is much more involved in that all of the outlets are all conduit boxes and all of the wires run though conduits.  I don't have any spaces really to fish wire pulls through.

 

So, I am thinking of just not doing a physical network layout and going completely wireless.  Thinking of a new ac router and then a network extender in the back of the house.

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B is the most common however, it should not really matter either way unless you are plugging one end into a coupler to connect to another cable for extension.

 

Even then, if one cable is configuration B on both ends, and the other cable is configuration A on both ends and there is a couple between the two the signals will still be on the correct pins when you terminate the connection to your ethernet card and switch.

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Even then, if one cable is configuration B on both ends, and the other cable is configuration A on both ends and there is a couple between the two the signals will still be on the correct pins when you terminate the connection to your ethernet card and switch.

 

Agreed - I shouldn't think it makes a blind bit of difference unless it's A on one end and B on the other?

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It makes no difference in shadracks post as b on both sides of one and a both sides of another = 2 straight through runs, there is no cross over on any pairs of wire. It is when you have a on one side of 1 wire and b on the other side of that same wire that it becomes a cross over.

1,2,4,5 is your standard 10/100 com pins. In a straight through cable this stays consistent on both ends regardless of a or b standard.

It becomes a cross over when 1,2,4,5 is on one side and 4,5,1,2 is on the other side of the run basically reversing the orange and the green one time in the run.

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It's too bad I won't be using any of this info as it is quite helpful.  Since I am not going to be doing any cable runs anymore I don't have to worry about making sure I get the wires properly terminated.

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Mist switches/routers have auto switching if the cable is crossed when it shouldn't be and visa versa as well.

It's too bad I won't be using any of this info as it is quite helpful.  Since I am not going to be doing any cable runs anymore I don't have to worry about making sure I get the wires properly terminated.

I would suggest finding a way to physically wire at least your Tv/stereo area and office/gaming pc area though. While modern wireless networks can stream HD it's best not to, also avoids the streaming disrupting potential gaming activities and such on the wireless. Wireless is great, but not when shared between multiple units using it heavily, like two users streaming HD Netflix, maybe a torrent box, stuff that only needs high BW and then you have someone gaming that barely needs BW but requires low latency but keeps getting pushed to the back of the traffic queue and getting high pings.

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Agreed - I shouldn't think it makes a blind bit of difference unless it's A on one end and B on the other?

 

Yes.  It wouldn't make any difference.  If it is an ethernet card or switch made after ~2005 (I think..maybe earlier than that), then even if the cable is crossed over the ethernet card or the switch will sort it out.  You really don't need crossover cables anymore except to support old equipment.  If you want to link two ethernet cards together without a switch the autosense capabilities of the equipment should sort it out with any standard cable or cross-over cable.

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I know this is probably not entirely relavent now but I thought I would mention it anyway.

Pulling CAT6 cables can lead to problem. The solid core can break if too much force is used. See points 6 and 7 here http://www.cat6.com/faqs/dosanddonts.aspx

Unless you have a specific requirement for CAT6 then CAT5e will be better for long pulled runs, the braided core is less prone to damage.

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What HawkMan said on the last page abount latency is quite important, Wireless works in a fundamentally different way to wired networks, and you'll have issues with latency and speed if you overload a link (The "300Mbps" reported by the router might be the total, so 2 clients would only get 150Mbps, 3 100Mbps, 4 75Mbps, etc.)

Yes.  It wouldn't make any difference.  If it is an ethernet card or switch made after ~2005 (I think..maybe earlier than that), then even if the cable is crossed over the ethernet card or the switch will sort it out.  You really don't need crossover cables anymore except to support old equipment.  If you want to link two ethernet cards together without a switch the autosense capabilities of the equipment should sort it out with any standard cable or cross-over cable.

I was told years ago that it was basically a part of the gigabit spec, so any gigabit adapter does auto-sensing.

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I know this is probably not entirely relavent now but I thought I would mention it anyway.

Pulling CAT6 cables can lead to problem. The solid core can break if too much force is used. See points 6 and 7 here http://www.cat6.com/faqs/dosanddonts.aspx

Unless you have a specific requirement for CAT6 then CAT5e will be better for long pulled runs, the braided core is less prone to damage.

That is true for all cable, pull too hard and you will break the cable.  That isn't limited to cat6.  You generally run solid core in walls, you wouldn't run braided usually unless they are for patch cables.  As usual both have advantages and disadvantages.  Supposedly you will have a better signal with solid core vs stranded and stranded is supposed to hold up better to the folding or wraping and unwrapping that many do with laptop cables when they take them out or put them back into their bags.

 

http://www.cat-5-cable-company.com/faq-stranded-VS-solid-CAT5.html

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Cat6 cables that have terminated plugs on them from the factory, are they in the 'a' or 'b' configuration?  I am planning on running some cables for a small networking project and I am thinking of leaving one of the pre-made plugs on and will just need to use wall plates for the other end.  That means I will be using a punch down tool and I need to make sure that I set it up in the right configuration.

 

Why don't you just look inside the clip?

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Now you all are just playing with me and making me feel bad that this project isn't turning out the way I wanted it too.  Unfortunately without doing some major wall reno it really won't work.  I can easily wire up the older part (built on the full basement with more exposed wire pulls) of the house but that doesn't solve the actual issue of getting the media room wired up which is the farthest room away from the office in the the new part of the house (built on the crawl space with all wire pulls in conduits). 

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You could use moulding or use crown molding to hide the wire coming into the ceiling then run it in the wall down to the jack, if you have access to an attic.  If you can't go under go over.  I can think of a few ways that/can will come out of the sheet rock and back into a hole going down all of which can be hidden by moulding of sorts.

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