Which cables do I need?

[AmigoThree]

Well I am going to order a 1000ft spool of Cat5e cable and I need to know which one I am supposed to get?

Stranded or solid? (It is for going from a switch to computers)

Well I ordered my crimper, cutter tool the other day and it came yesterday and I was practicing on a 50foot piece that I needed to make smaller anyway, and I finally got good at it after a few tries. Well anyway that cable the pairs of wires (orange and white-orage, blue and white-blue, etc...) seemed to be twisted together. I assume this is stranded?

[nebben]

Cat5 cable is all like that. There are 4 pairs of wires all twisted together. THis is why Cat5 is also known as twisted pair wire.

Solid and stranded refers to the wires that are in the twisted pairs. Stranded is made up of finer small wires, and is best used for short distances: i.e. patch cables. Solid wire is used for more permanent connections: i.e. in walls or through cubicle partitions. Solid wire is more stiff, but can be used for patch cables. The only problem is that it can kink easily, and when this happens, you can get signal loss and damage the wire. Stranded is supa-flexible and great for easily abused things like patch cables between patch panels and switches, or for computer to computer in a certain room..etc.

I forget what the spec is on stranded wire, but I think it's a lot less than 100meters.

-ben

[AmigoThree]

Ok thanks I will be getting the stranded then. I am pretty much getting this to resell most of it. I found a good deal on 1000 feet for 60 bucks and then I am gonna get 100 ends for 20. And I was going to sell for 50 cents a foot and then 1 dollar off for every 20 feet.