sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Cat 3 & Cat 5e

I noticed in Home Depot yesterday that 1000 ft of cat 3 was $10 more than cat 5e. I bought the 5e to use for voice grade stuff. I'll continue to get my name brand good quality 5e and 6 from my regular distributor for data, and pay the price they command. But their cat 3 is getting too expensive. Add in some shipping for a heavy box of wire and you can't beat picking up a box like this.

Jim

Why don't you price name brand quality CAT3 from a real wire and cable distributor, not Home Despot, Blows, Sparkie Supply or Geek World.

-Hal

Most people are using cat5e for voice here in Alberta. Plenum cable is not mandatory in Alberta
Everyone uses the non plenum wire. Cat3, I must have installed at least "eh million' feet of that stuff for Bell, up to about 1990, then I started converting to Cat5e. Haven't bought 3 pair in 20 years but I do like to use quad for payphones and adsl demarc extentions...onto the cat5e LAN or cat5e telephone.
https://www.contact-directconnect.com/cat5_canera\'s.htm
IBDN/CDT Certified for What's Comming Next! :thumb:

Those who say it can't be done?
:db: Should not interrupt the people doing it! :db:

I generally do purachase my wire and cable from Graybar, along with my other supplies. The last couple of times I ordered some cat 3, or just plain voice grade General Cable, their price was quite a bit more than the HD price. For those jobs that don't require anything special (residential, quick adds for analog devices, etc.) the "cheap" stuff is fine.

And after adding shipping to a box of cable, well, the HD stuff is more than sufficient.

Jim

My original post was to point out that 5e was selling cheaper than cat 3. Go figure ??

volume ...back in the CAT3 3 pr/4pr days, I found 4 become cheaper than 3 due to the volumes the distributor was moving

Yoda, agree they want more for Cat3 than they do for Cat5E.You figure it out.Also when they do send
ordered Cat3 it looks very close to Cat5E something else which gripes me.
In my book it is not Cat3 but re-branded Cat5.
The point is i wanted Cat3 and i get Cat5.

"My original post was to point out that 5e was selling cheaper than cat 3. Go figure ??"

Dot mind the grumpy old folks around here hehe :banana:

Cat3 is not used as much anymore so price will be higher at most places since their not selling as much. We have not used Cat3 in a number of years. Probably 6 or 7 if memory serves me. Mmost everything is speced out Cat5e or above and its been this way for a while in our neck of the woods.

It's sort of like gas as the Supply & Demand will effect the prices plus quantity discounting. I haven't purchased Cat3 in several years and still have a few boxes on the shelf. The HD stuff should work fine but big box stores can't be trusted to sell the same quality as a smaller distributor.

Cat3 is sooo much easier on the crippled hands.
I don't need the extra resistance from the Cat5e
for a Voice grade circuit.