One less obvious thing to consider is what sort of cable construction you want. Most Ethernet cable consists of stranded, shielded wires inside a flexible plastic casing, which is easy to wind up and move around. However, solid-core cable is less susceptible to interference and offers slightly better performance. It’s less flexible, but if you’re running cable inside a wall it’s a good choice.

Finding the best outdoor ethernet cable for a garden building can be difficult with so many options available. Lots of terminologies can make it hard to compare products.A rather detailed and extensive blog with installation examples and recommended hardware is found in When Lightning Strikes! Ethernet Data Cable and Lightning Protection . Tips StarTech doesn’t make the cheapest cables, but they are rigorously tested and have a reputation for reliability. This Cat6 cable comes in blue, white or grey in lengths that cover everything from short patch cables to longer 15m runs. It uses 100% stranded copper conductors with 50-micron gold-plated connectors, and the cables are tested with the industry-standard Fluke tests to ensure they deliver reliable, professional-grade performance. Those looking to really future proof their network might want to look at the newer Cat 8 standard, which supports speeds of up to 40Gbits/sec at distances of up to 30m using the same RJ45 connectors as Cat 6a. Predictably, though, it’s expensive and mostly used in data centres to hook up the most demanding high-performance network kit. Which category do you need?

You’ve probably heard of power banks – handy portable power units, ideal for keeping your phone, headphones and other electronic devices charged up while you’re on the go. But what exactly is a power station? Read more If you need to use shielded Ethernet cable then by all means install it but be aware that shielded cable carries penalties with it, such as:Minimum trade size recommended is ¾”, and the actual trade size of the conduct you should use is based on the load ratio. See Conduit Fill Chart for Ethernet and Coaxial Cable . A question that often comes up is “should I use only shielded cable outside”? The short answer is no. The longer answer is “it depends on the environment”. The purpose of cable shielding is to ward off EMI/RFI or ESD. The shielding, usually in the form of foil referred to as FTP (Foil Twisted Pair), will be accompanied by a ESD ground/drain wire as well. Generally, I recommend using unshielded cabling unless there is a valid need for shielded, such as when burying the cable within 8” of electrical wire on parallel runs. The other primary reason to use shielded is for ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) drain off such as when running outdoor Ethernet cable above ground in structure-to-structure scenarios. ESD build up occurs with dry air movement across cabling, and could ruin your network equipment if not allowed to discharge to ground.