IFSM 370 Discussion week 2 Assume you were building a new home

I would choose Cat 6A network cabling for the network cabling for a new home build. Cat 6A is the industry standard and relatively inexpensive. Cat6 has an estimated life cycle of around ten years before errors and degradation begin to occur (CAT6 vs CAT7 - Pros, Cons, Comparisons and Costs, 2020). Installation is $50 per connector, making the cost of wiring a home for Cat 6 around $700 and Cat 6A around $850 (CAT6 vs CAT7 - Pros, Cons, Comparisons, and Costs, 2020). The figures are based on a home with ten lines at 200 feet per line.

Cat 6A supports bandwidth frequencies of up to 500 MHz, twice the amount of Cat 6 cable, and can also support 10Gbps. Cat 6A cable is available as F/UTP, U/UTP, and U/FTP. Cat 6A U/UTP means the cable consists of 4 unshielded twisted pairs and no outer shielding. Cat 6A F/UTP means the cable consists of 4 unshielded twisted pairs; however, it contains an outer foil shield. One of the latest additions to the Cat-6A shielded cable range is a U/FTP cable. This cable configuration has all four pairs individually shielded, rather than an outer foil shield (Benefits of Installing Category 6a Ethernet Cable, 2017).  

I would choose the Cat 6A U/FTP for the house cabling since the U/FTP is a smaller and more flexible cable, making it easier to install. In F/UTP cables, the NEXT loss and FEXT loss (crosstalk between the pairs) is controlled by the twists or lay-length. Due to crosstalk coupling, higher frequencies require twisted pairs in shorter lay lengths or twists, with each pair having a different twist from the other. The individual foil shields primarily control the NEXT loss and FEXT loss in U/FTP cables. As a result, the twists or lay lengths can be longer or looser, with each pair similar to the other. The benefits of looser twists or longer lay lengths are lower DC resistance per cable length and easier to untwist for termination. The lower DC resistance is also essential for minimizing temperature and better Power over Ethernet (PoE) / Power over HDBaseT (PoH) support (Structured Cable Products, n.d).

I believe that Cat 6A U/FTP would be a good choice for the five computers connected to the printer within the home, along with streaming and gaming over the network. Cat 6A will also provide dependability for future technology compatibility.

Reference

Audin, G. (2019, May 3). What You Need to Know about Cat 6A Cable. Retrieved from https://www.nojitter.com/enterprise-networking/what-you-need-know-about-cat-6a-cable

Benefits of Installing Category 6a Ethernet Cable. (2017, February 15). Retrieved from https://www.taylored.com/blog/benefits-of-installing-category-6a-ethernet-cable/

CAT6 vs CAT7 - Pros, Cons, Comparisons and Costs. (2020, March 17). Retrieved from https://www.fixr.com/comparisons/cat6-vs-cat7#cQ

Structured Cable Products. (n.d.). Shielded Cat6a Cables – U/FTP vs F/UTP Which One Should I Use? Retrieved from https://scpcat5e.com/pdfs/TB-19-01-Cat6a-U-FTP.pdf