They make stranded bulk cable, but there’s really not much use for it.
Nobody wants to pay people to terminate cat6 patch cables. It’s not cost effective compared to just buying premade cables of various lengths.
Maybe that’s why you are downvoted? You are otherwise factually correct. You shouldn’t use solid cable for patches…solid cable belongs in the wall/plenum to the back of the patch panel, where it doesn’t get messed with. It’s too fragile to be used outside of a wall.
Stranded is more flexible, making it better suited for patches, but it also doesn’t punch-down into jacks as nicely (making it a poor choice for runs between patch panels/wall jacks)
Just…whatever you do…don’t get CCA. Cheap crap shouldn’t even be allowed to call itself CAT6.
Like others said they come in both, I usually just buy solid and it works just fine for patch cables as well, no issues whatsoever crimping RJ45 onto em
Plus it always seems like stranded is just lower quality anyways, yea it’s more flexible, but how much flexibility do you really need? For most cases, not much
What are you talking about? You can get both solid and stranded cable on spool. Depending on the standard you might be required to terminate into a patch panel or jack, but you can get just about any cable on a spool you might want.
I’m my experience, long term reliability of crimped stranded cable (that particular combo, to be clear) has lower longevity with vibratory environments.
There are some crimps that are great for stranded, but the RJ series (and others which stamp down) generally don’t seem to be good enough.
I think that has to do more with the heads being used and the quality of the cable than anything.
I’ve seen tons of cheap heads on good cable, and it goes poorly after a while.
I generally recommend cable thats been third party tested for both performance and physical resilience. Haven’t seen any decent riser that wasn’t, but I have seen some patch from major brands that definitely wasn’t.
Patch cables are stranded, spool cable is solid. Spool is good for between jacks and patch panels, less good for crimping RJ45 ends onto.
They make stranded bulk cable, but there’s really not much use for it.
Nobody wants to pay people to terminate cat6 patch cables. It’s not cost effective compared to just buying premade cables of various lengths.
Maybe that’s why you are downvoted? You are otherwise factually correct. You shouldn’t use solid cable for patches…solid cable belongs in the wall/plenum to the back of the patch panel, where it doesn’t get messed with. It’s too fragile to be used outside of a wall.
Stranded is more flexible, making it better suited for patches, but it also doesn’t punch-down into jacks as nicely (making it a poor choice for runs between patch panels/wall jacks)
Just…whatever you do…don’t get CCA. Cheap crap shouldn’t even be allowed to call itself CAT6.
You can buy stranded in spool too, and its not uncommon in shops that actually make their own patch cables, though most just buy them.
Like others said they come in both, I usually just buy solid and it works just fine for patch cables as well, no issues whatsoever crimping RJ45 onto em
Plus it always seems like stranded is just lower quality anyways, yea it’s more flexible, but how much flexibility do you really need? For most cases, not much
What are you talking about? You can get both solid and stranded cable on spool. Depending on the standard you might be required to terminate into a patch panel or jack, but you can get just about any cable on a spool you might want.
All the patch cables I’ve ever cut open (with the exception of one that came with my ISP’s modem) have been solid copper cable.
I’m my experience, long term reliability of crimped stranded cable (that particular combo, to be clear) has lower longevity with vibratory environments.
There are some crimps that are great for stranded, but the RJ series (and others which stamp down) generally don’t seem to be good enough.
Again, anecdotal, but yeah.
I think that has to do more with the heads being used and the quality of the cable than anything. I’ve seen tons of cheap heads on good cable, and it goes poorly after a while.
I generally recommend cable thats been third party tested for both performance and physical resilience. Haven’t seen any decent riser that wasn’t, but I have seen some patch from major brands that definitely wasn’t.
I’ve only ever had spooled stranded cable (with solid copper strands). It’s very good for making patch cables.