We recently ran a promotion for networking cables which brought to light a number of questions people had about quality ‘networking cables’. This comparison was done by using our OEM Cat6 cable vs. what the ‘Other Guy’ sells.

The easiest way to identify a decent Cat6 from a bad one is to handle it, simply by bending it and feeling the thickness of the PVC jacket you will be able to gauge the quality.

Other Guys Cable (LEFT) | Warcom Cable (RIGHT)

When you bend the two Cat6′s in half, it was quite obvious which one had the low quality cheaper jacket.

The Warcom OEM cable jacket is fairly malleable and far thicker!

Other Guys Cable On The LEFT | Warcom Cable On The RIGHT

Our cables also have a much sturdier plug on the ends and the wire is staggered and shielded going into the jack.

If you also look closely at the cable on the right hand side (Warcom OEM Cat6), you can also see the internal separation, which is only found in quality cables.

… Now for my favorite part – cutting them up!

Other Guys On The LEFT | Warcom Cable On The RIGHT

As soon as we start slicing, the difference is immediately apparent. We could easily chop through the other guys but ours took a bit of work.  Ours are twisted and separated by a special plastic divider to shield the individual signals.

The other guy has… well nothing…

For those of you who make your own cables, you should be able to appreciate how poor, the ‘other guy’ cables really are.

Warcom OEM Cat 6 Cable

Other Guys OEM Cat6 Cable

Warcom OEM Cat6 Cable

Other Guys OEM Cat6 Cable

… More cutting!

As I dug even deeper I was shocked to see just how poor quality the proclaimed 6E cable really is…

The first cable is the ‘Other Guys Cat 6′ cable and the second one is ours.

If you look at the first picture, you will notice the thin copper cable that is sending all the 1′s and 0′s back and forth!

Other Guys Cable - 5 Thin Wires

… And this cable is the Warcom Cat6 OEM Cable.

Warcom OEM Cat 6 Cable - 7 Thick Wires

… Now lets review the information stamped on the cables:

Other Guy Cable

• Computer Network Cable Cat6E 4Pair / 24AWG

Label Print on Package and Cable Printing (2 cables)

Warcom OEM Cable

• Copartner E188601-T (UL) Type CM 24AWG/4PRS    LL84201-F4 CSA Type CMB FT4 UTP ETL   Verified To TIA/EIA-568-B 2-1 Category6 Patch Cord  N18767

Warcom OEM Cable Printing

Conclusion:

Warcom cables meet and exceed all testing standards in Australia which ensures that our cables are fully certified to be used for all data and telephony purposes.

All of our cables are fluke tested and Austel Approved – not sure about the other guy…

At the time of writing this article, we charge $5.20 for a 2m Cat6 Cable … The ‘other guy’ will charge you about $2.00 – $2.50 for their cheap cables.

So knowing what you now know, would you trust your network cables to the other guy?  We aren’t saying you should buy Warcom OEM cables but rather when you make a choice about which cable to buy, the cheapest product isn’t always the best option.  For a couple bucks more you can get the right cable the first time!

Tags: Category6, LAN, network

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 16th, 2010 at 11:09 am and is filed under Article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.