robertc65

I'm no expert, but I have run my share of CAT5 and Coax over the years. In pricing a structured bundle of 2 Cat5 and 2 Coax it seems to be significantly more expensive than just buying a spool of each. I know there is a lot of industry hype regarding structured cabling, but myself I just don't see any advantage to it. In most cases I think it just adds to the cost and can also be more difficult to work with. What do you guys think?

BuildingHomes

Structured cabling is a term that gets used to cover a whole bunch of things.

What you are talking about is bundled cable. 2xcat5e + 2xRG6 bundled under the same jacket.

I personally do not use it because typically is is more expensive than buying individual boxes and most of what I do is residential, where the phone, TV and computer are not going to be in the same spot.

It also limits you to doing just those types of runs.

I pull by room, so I mark out the drops in the room, put a box of cable in front of each drop (cat5e, rg6, etc..) pull them all up (or down) through the top-plate, bundle the ends together and pull them all at once to the termination point.

If I used bundled cable, that would limit me to what I can pull where and I'd have an extra box of wire in an already cramped truck.

mdshunk

"Structured cabling" is a wiring style, and not a specific cable type. The cable type you're referring to is more often generically called "hybrid cable". It can contain any number of cable types and styles under the same overall outer jacket. I bought a few rolls once to experiment with, but it saved no labor or time. It does make for a neater job, though, when the cabling is exposed for great distances, such as on open bar joists.

robertc65

Yea, I understand that the term is used more generally and basically refers to home running all wires back to anyone of a number of available proprietary structured cabling boxes. In general I think the only thing positive about the whole deal is that the wire is home run instead of having splitters all over the place. I know a lot of companies out there now are pushing it when you buy a new house and it's a great new way for low voltage guys to make money. I was just kind of wondering if anyone in general like to work with the bundle or prefers separate cables. I agree with you MD, in that it limits you to a single spot in a room for all connections. If a home owner wanted items in different locations in a room they would have to pay for an additional drop of 4 cables wasting some in the process.

Teetorbilt

In boat and car manufacturing they call them harness's. In production they are more efficient even if you don't use some of the wires, it also makes it simple to upgrade.

If you are doing tract homes, it might make sense.

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Rugger

We only use the 2-Cat;2-Coax if that is what we need for a specific location. It can be very difficult to terminate in the plate at trim out. Ussually we think its a pain. With Hi-Def TV's, you still need a third coax sometimes. We ussually pull it when there is a question about future expansion at a location. It gives you options.

giddonah

Never. Our jobs are way too big and complicated to be limited by one type of cable. Sometimes we'll pull 15 cat5, 8 RG6, #6 ground, 6 axlink, 4 14-2... all at once. The bundle ends up around 3" in diameter. At most, we'll use RG6 siamese, but even those I think we're just using what we have without ordering more. Even if every single pull were the exact same configuration, I'd still use individual boxes/spools. Separating them at the panels would be a pain when you're dealing with 3 panels or more.

I'd only ever consider it if it were substantially cheaper than individual cables. Why anyone buys it is beyond me.

tier1ip

I see your viewpoint on installing structured cabling in residential settings; however, the term "structured cabling" opens up a whole new set of questions in the commercial world.

A couple of key points on why companies choose professional, certified structured cabling installers:

1. It reduces their total cost of ownership after installation because IT administrators spend less time (money), troubleshooting, repair, or making changes to the networks.

2. Some of us see structured cabling as a quality of work standard. In other words, we think that clean cabling installations lead to better performing IT networks. If you owned a company, wouldn't you want your IT administrator to care as much about his work as you do about your business?

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Mike H
Structured Cabling Professional