Thank u that was very informative!

5e would be fine for everything. I might do 6 for interior network, but it would depend on the run lengths. 5e can handle gigabit speeds for short distances.

Cat6 is better specced and the price difference should be minimal. If your installer is charging substantially more for Cat6 install, they’re ripping you off. Also, avoid ANY cat of wiring that is copper-clad aluminum. You want pure copper wires.

Cat6 will let you push 10gbe up to 55m and 1gbe at 300m. Home WiFi will soon push well beyond 1gbe. Cat5e in 2019 is just a mistake.

Agreed. CCA doesn't even meet the cat 5e or 6 specs for bulk wiring. It's possibly passable for patch cables.

If you have a hard wire to your wi-fi router and cable from your dish to one cable box you could do everything else by wi-fi.

I can see a contractor charging up to 50% more for CAT6 and CAT6a. The material is more expensive, you need noticeably more expensive terminators. and honestly, terminating CAT6 is a lot more pain than CAT5e. Also, unless you want to defeat the benefits of CAT6, you really need to pay attention to how you handle this much thicker cable. That makes pulling it harder. And in fact, I don't really trust most contractors to get this right.

That's not to say it is an order of magnitude harder than CAT5e. But each of these little things adds up. In the end, the contractor is either going to cut corners (and then, why bother?) or they are going to have to spend more time and money on finishing the job properly.

As a computer geek, I agree that installing CAT6a is great. We might all have 10Gb ethernet in a few years. And if you follow that logic, then you shouldn't even bother with CAT6. It's only marginally better than CAT5e. If you really want to future proof, get CAT6a. It handles and costs about the same as CAT6, but is much better quality. And yes, don't buy any CCA crap.

From a pragmatic point of view, for short distances in a home, Gigabit ethernet runs perfectly fine over CAT5e, and even 10GbE has been reported to (often) work just fine on CAT5e despite not being supported by the standard. Also, you are unlikely to actually need 10GbE anytime soon. Yes, access points are starting to support faster raw data rates. But the net data rates are still only about Gigabit speeds; and it's not as if your ISP is going to provide more than 1Gb/s. So, you don't really have anybody to communicate with at higher rates. The faster raw rates are mostly needed to have multiple client talk to each other simultaneously; and that doesn't necessarily require a faster wired up-link.

Where faster rates could be needed is for things like HDMI over CATegory cabling. But I am not aware of any 18Gb HDMI interfaces that even do this. I think, so far, they all use fiber optics instead. And for 10.2Gbps HDMI, you can run over CAT5e just fine.

So, I stand by what I said earlier. From a purely pragmatic point of view, you are almost certainly fine if you run just CAT5e. If in doubt, it is more important to have plenty of runs to different locations (and multiple per location) than it is important to have the newest standard of the cabling.

On the other hand, if you do want to go all out and future-proof, then that's fine. It can't hurt, even if it might not technically be needed. But if you do, then wire with CAT6a instead of CAT6; make 100% sure the electrician knows about how to properly terminate including doing the right thing with the shielding; and pay attention to things like bending radii. Alternatively, install Smurf tubing and don't worry whether in the future you'll need CATegory cabling or fiber optics.

Personally, I have done all three things in my house. Some locations are CAT5e, some more recent ones are CAT6a, and we do have a little bit of Smurf tubing for unexpected changes.

How is this topic related to Appliances?

The cost delta between a spool of Cat6 and Cat5e is $30 per thousand feet.

It is not substantially harder to run Cat6 than it is to run Cat5e. It is not substantially thicker than Cat5e, and the parts are a minor factor in the overall cost of the project. Meanwhile, consumer products are now coming out that do indeed run at more than 1gbps (2.5gbps and 5gbps are standards, too).

There are plenty of HDMI baluns in 2019 that support 18gbps.

Cat6a is a different animal and more expensive to install, no question.

But in 2019 there's no valid reason to pick Cat5e over Cat6.

Install both, and put them in 1" PVC conduit. Then you're ready for anything in the future. You'll never regret it.

“Install both” doesn’t make any sense. Cat6 is a more capable version of the same underlying thing with full backward compatibility. Conduit is a great idea, though. Just more $$$.

PVC conduit is tricky. You need to make sure you have accessible junction boxes when there are corners. It's difficult to pull new cables around corners.

But with Smurf tubes you can frequently put in gentle turns that you can pull cable through. So, it's generally a better albeit more expensive choice.

Nothing more frustrating than having empty conduit that you can't actually use.

Also, if you plan on installing conduit, leave it completely empty and run the initial set of CATegory cable outside of the Smurf tube. No need to crowd it with cables unnecessarily.

What are Smurf tubes? Flexible conduit? You could use metal conduit with a bender to make smooth corner, or use "pull boxes".

This stuff: https://i.redd.it/s0y36obt6a611.jpg

Smurf tube is a low voltage flexible conduit. Loki's picture shows some typical stuff. It's usually blue, hence the name. Sometime's it's orange.

Conduit whether it be rigid or flexible shouldn't have more than two bends in it between the pull points.

I agree that you have to minimize the number of bends in any kind of conduit. But I find with Smurf tube you can sometimes get lucky. As it naturally likes to spring back to the position of least strain, it naturally ends up minimizing bends. They all tend to be more organic than metal conduit that was forced into position with a bending tool. And with PVC conduit, you don't even get that option.

Smurf tubes aren't legal for high voltage. But for low-voltage, I believe they have distinct advantages over rigid metal conduit.

Nonetheless, the usually rules apply: minimize the length between junction boxes, minimize bends, and don't try to overfill.

They all tend to be more organic than metal conduit that was forced into position with a bending tool. And with PVC conduit, you don't even get that option.

What, am I the only person here who bends pvc conduit with a heat gun? Been doing it for years.