Why you should not bother using Cat7 Ethernet cable

[Tudor]

https://www.cablematters.com/Blog/Networking/what-is-cat7-and-why-you-don-t-need-it

[Andrew-G]

What ho, Tudor!  I'm sorry to hear that the topic of Cat 7 cable is troubling you so much that you need to do a new post condemning, it but just because there's a web page saying Cat 7 is somehow "wrong" doesn't make it so.  

Most of the cables I've bought in recent years have been Cat 7, it works perfectly well without fault, including on longer runs, whether plugged into my VM hub, my mesh system or various PCs all via standard RJ45 sockets.  Even the link you post recognises that this was a properly ratified standard.

In reality Cat 6a, 7 or 8 is adequate for most uses.  Skinflints or those who choose to use unshielded cable can always drop back to Cat 5e or Cat 6 (personally it seems a pointless economy unless you're installing thousands of metres).   Cat 7 remains exactly what it always was - decent quality shielded ethernet cable, available at reasonable prices.  I've got an upcoming job to run ethernet round the house, and that will be using whichever looks best value at the time I buy it - at the moment it looks like flat outdoor Cat 7 will be what's bought, but I'm not precious about that.

[MrHalfAsleep]

Been using pound shop 5M cat5e for years.  No problems. I also got hold of some Belkin 10M (marked up at £10; bought 3) stuff for the same price, which hasn't been used yet. I also got hold of a load of the stuff (ex install) that I couldn't use (I would've been able to wire the street up with it!).  Then again, I'm not quite NASA.  

[Roger_Gooner]

I've got several cat 5e cables in my living room and I predict that these cables will still be working fine when I'm about to kick the bucket (I'm 69).

[Andrew-G]

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@Roger_Gooner wrote:

I've got several cat 5e cables in my living room and I predict that these cables will still be working fine when I'm about to kick the bucket (I'm 69).

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You're probably right, and when most of us need to do something we will just grab any patch cable to hand without worrying what category.  Having said that I've had a few older ethernet cables "go bad" for no obvious reason.  One day they worked, next day they didn't, and it wasn't cables that were regularly getting handled, just old commodity grade Cat 5 or 5e. 

On a more pressing matter than the flavour of ethernet, your BQM (if still tracking your current IP) seems to my eye to have been deteriorating for some time now, and on the latest there's worrying levels of packet loss?  Possibly not at times you were using and noticed, but the evidence is there.  Maybe time to take a look and get it sorted before it worsens to the point you're having obvious useability problems?

[Roger_Gooner]

On the cabling front: a while ago one of my cat 5e cables failed, no obvious reason as it was never disturbed but these things happen.

As for my BQM: I've had some Post RS Errors for a while and three of the five upstream channels have power levels of 51dBmV but the modulation for all five is still 64QAM. However the broadband works well enough and is reliable, so there isn't actually a real problem to report. If there is a noticeable deterioration I'll take action.

[Tudor]

High power levels as far as I can see are either of two things 1) bad cable connection or 2) you are a long way from the street box and/or on the wrong tap, needs moving to a less attenuated tap.