Why Is Broadband Cable (CAT5) So Expensive ?

[Marche00 0]

I've been getting into doing wired networking for my house and I've just been wondering why Cat5 cable is so expensive? I just got a 15 cable a month or so ago and the crap took $30 out of my pocket when just the other day I asked one of my buddies for some cat5 from the place he hangs out and BOOM 25 feet of cat5 for F-R-E-E! I have to admit that it isn't the best looking thing in the world but still why pay so much cash just for looks?

Edited February 11, 2006 by miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG (see edit history)

[James_K 0]

If you buy Cat Cables in bulk it's extremly cheap but you also have to check what your getting which is why computer techies like buying huge rolls of cat cables and just cutting of the amount they need that way it's cheaper but you have to look at the smaller things too some points are golden plated suppsoe to increase connectivity or some crud it prob does but I never really care it cant be that much so yah it matters what yoru doing I mean think about it if you sell small amouts cheap you wont make any money if you sell big amounts expansive you wont make anymoney it's all in marketing my freind

[nightfox1405241487 0]

If you buy Cat Cables in bulk it's extremly cheap but you also have to check what your getting which is why computer techies like buying huge rolls of cat cables and just cutting of the amount they need that way it's cheaper but you have to look at the smaller things too some points are golden plated suppsoe to increase connectivity or some crud it prob does but I never really care it cant be that much so yah it matters what yoru doing I mean think about it if you sell small amouts cheap you wont make any money if you sell big amounts expansive you wont make anymoney it's all in marketing my freind

Yeppers! I recently got a new connection when I got a new router since my old wireless network bridge (netgear) wasn't compatable with the Linksys router so I had a 50 footer running from the router to my room into a hub, into a 3 foot cable to my old netgear with a switch in it (I got lucky!) and then a cable from that to my computer. That's how I got online for a while.

Since I couldn't have all the cable running through the house, my dad bought 100 feet cable, crimpers and RJ-45(?) connectors I think all for under $100! Now there is a cable that runs under the floor to my room! It's great!

Just buy bulk and you can save! Plus, bulk has advantages too... say a cable suddenly goes bad. You can instantly repair the problem quickly!

[N]F

[Houdini 0]

If you are buying a cable that has been terminated then it has also been tested, then packages and shipped. If you buy in bulk you will need to also buy the connectors, and unless you buy those in bulk also and have the proper tools, strippers, crimpers ect, and also a tester, then you are paying for someone else to do it for you and if the cable doesn't work just return it, but if you goof it up then you have to do it all over again.I used to do data work for Wal-Mart and carried about 20,000 feet of cable (20) 1000 foot boxes (all indoor rated, outdoor rating costs even more) as well as test equipment that recorded the test results of all cables that I installed with labels at each termination point.If you go to a big box store like Home Depot or Lowes you will notice that they seel CAT 5 or CAT 5E or even sometime CAT 6 and you will see that there are two types, indoor and outdoor and the outdoor costs more. So unless you are like myself where I spent a great deal of time running, terminating and then testing CAT 5 and Fibre Optic cable you are best off buying the premade tested cables. A pair of crimpers is about $59.00 and a little box of CAT 5 (RJ-45) plugs with 25 in a pack is about 15 dollars.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I bought a RJ-45 (Cat 5) 50 feet cable dangling from my router to my XBOX for just around $15 CAD. Also, it's a snagless cable with those connectors inplace, no fidling with wires required.xboxrulz

[Valanga 0]

All cables sold at retail are grossly overpriced. Here are some examples:Best buy sells a 6foot USB cable for $33. Their employees can buy stuff for BB cost + 5% employees pay about $2 for that same cable.Same applies to network cables at virtually every retailer. They make almost nothing on printers and computers and networking equipment so they make their profits on the cables.Even the cable crimper mentioned above is not worth $50 something, I got mine for $10 online. I also picked up some testing equipment and such for a reasonable rate. Or save yourself the trouble and use google to find yourself cat5e patch cables for as little as 79cents a piece. Order a case of them to spread the shipping cost, and sell the extras to your neighbors for $5 a piece. You'll make a killing and your neighbors will beg you for more.

[Houdini 0]

Even the cable crimper mentioned above is not worth $50 something, I got mine for $10 online. I also picked up some testing equipment and such for a reasonable rate. Or save yourself the trouble and use google to find yourself cat5e patch cables for as little as 79cents a piece. Order a case of them to spread the shipping cost, and sell the extras to your neighbors for $5 a piece. You'll make a killing and your neighbors will beg you for more.

The mention crimpers are Ideal Telemaster crimp tools, and there are even more expensvie brands than those, a cheap set of Cat 5 cost me $70 at a lowes where they were marke wrong I went back and the were $98 but only after I had seen the bargain, even at the supply house they were $87 for the least expensive of test exuipment. The fibre optic cable testing equipment required to be used on all fibre optic cable at WalMart cost$16,000 and send full reporst on all cable right striaght from their own system to their headquartes. The $to crimpers would not have lasted me a day, when I might terminate 50 cat5 cables, do 20 or 30 telephone modular plugs for cat3 (telephone cable) a punh tool is 45 dollars with just one set of blades either for cat5 or cat3, I had to have both and a spare for each. Doing a patch panel for just 1 calbe require 8 punches to the patch board and I might patch down 50 or more of those in a store if it were a major new system going in. $10 crimpt tolls might be a deal for someone who does it maybe once in a blue moon, but 7 days a week up to 16 hours a day, it just wouldn't work.
When doing new sotre instead of 1000 foot boxes of cat5 we used 20000 reels of cable, and of course the more you buy the les it costs, but go to Home Depost and buy just 10 feet of cable it will be about 17 cents for indoor and 28 for outdoor rated cable then you still have to have the RJ45 male plugs and the least I believe you can buy is a pack of 25 for $15, I think you might buy a small kit with4 plugs bot about $5 I have never bought that few, and if your cable fails you will probably need to repair at least one if not both ends, and without a tester you wouldn'tknow till you plugged it in and nothing happened. Believe me when I say you are best off to just buy the cable right off the shelf at Wal-Mart or Best Buy or Home Depot or Lowes or K Mart, and getting a 5 foot cable when you think you realy only need 2 or three if you are wrong you will spend all the time and gasoline to go swap or posssibly pay even more for the right thing.

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

If you know anyone that does construction for larger companies you can often get them to keep their eye our for "internet cable" that they rip out of the walls during reno's in large masses. Often companies have to run cat5 accross long distances to connect to switches so they end up with bundles of cable getting thrown out that can just be re-cut to the required size and voila. Sure this doesn't help everyone and often is against some rule or another, but as long as your buddy is willing you can probably get a hundred feet for like 5 bucks

[Hercco 0]

Generally speaking all "ready to use" cables are ridiculously expensive. This goes from computer and networking cables to audio cables. These are things that the average customer buys really rarely, usually only when they buy new equipment. At that point people don't really care about paying 20€ for a cable when they have purchased a 200€ device. All they care is that they get to use the new gadget and make sure it works. Have you guys ever bought a cheap DVD player? And did it come with a cable? I'm guessing not. I bought a DVD player for my sister, it wasn't one of those who use computer dvd stations that aren't nowhere near balanced but of the bit higher price. Anyways the cable I needed for it ended up costing 15% of the players price...

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

20 Euros? That's a lot of money for a CAT-5 cable.xboxrulz

[springbok 0]

I bought a CAT5 cable once and paid an extortionate amount of money for it. After that I bought a roll of cable, crimpers and connectors for just a little bit more and now I make cables for friends and family. If you are unsure of how to do it there are various site on the net that you could refer to, here is a good site

http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Howto/network/cable/cable5.htm

Also a tough lesson I learnt, always put the boot on before crimping and make sure before you crimp the cable. This caused a few retries before I learnt my lesson

I hope this helps for next time

Edited April 20, 2006 by springbok (see edit history)

[Sarah81 0]

I had to buy a six-foot CAT-5 when I lived in my dorm. (Back when I had access to a hard-wired LAN connection, that is.) Even at our student computer store, where they love to give us discounts, I ended up paying almost 20 bucks (US). Now the cable's at home in storage somewhere because I don't ever use it - just wireless LAN in my apartment - but I'm sure as heck not giving it to anybody. I'll probably need that CAT-5 again in the future and really don't want to spend money on another one.

[Grafitti 0]

The cable is relatively expensive, if you're going for the good stuff. Those prices are way out of range, but still you can expect to pay 2 or 3 times as much for a good one as for the bargain one. Different companies have different quality standards, and cheap cable doesn't always transmit as well as high-end. There's a lot more shielding against interference in the better cables, and while it may not make much of a difference for the smaller end-user, it can be annoying. Case in point: we have cable here, but there's no competition to speak of. So with a relative monopoly, the cable company is free to use the cheapest cable, with the result that every electronics device like cell phones, microwaves, etc in our house and the neighbors houses all interfere with the signal, it gets choked and clogs the modem, and i end up restarting the modem, resetting the MAC iD at least once or twice a day. To top it off, my actual BROADBAND speed is around 15 k on a GOOD day! I do better on dial-up.