Cables for Home Networks – A Fast Lane to Smooth Connection

A convenient home use of the Internet depends on many different features. While you can always turn to a professional installer for advice and practical work, it’s wise to gain wider knowledge of some basics that can improve this experience. In line with that, everybody can learn what elements make a more advanced home network. Connecting all your devices onto a single network is useful for many reasons, from transferring multimedia files to uploading cumbersome business data. And one of the most important parts of that process is choosing the right cables.

Fiberists vs. copperists

There are two main types of cables – copper cables and their fiber counterparts. The performance of the entire home network will depend on the type of cables installed in your building, or house. They differentiate in the data transfer rate. Also, their performance is affected by their length. That way, fiber cables ensure the data transfer rate of up to 10 Gb per second. Moreover, the maximum cable length that supports that speed goes up to 2000 meters.
On the other hand, copper cables provide their users with maximum speeds of 1 Gb/s (Cat5) and 10 Gb/s (Cat6) at the maximum cable length of 100m.
What we can conclude from these facts is that new home owners should insist on fiber cables. However, it’s expensive to do that in older homes that already have copper cables. So, it would be smart to inquire about those installations before you move into a building.
Also, check out how the local authorities in Boston are making an effort to fiberize the Internet installations throughout this city.

Choosing the category

If you have to use copper cables for your home network, you should find out more about different categories (Cats) and their characteristics.

• Cat5 – The most frequent choice for Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet. The maximum speed at which you can transfer data with it is 1 Gb/s, which is more than enough for home users. Also, its shielded version has built-in protection from electromagnetic interference, which improves its performance.
• Cat6 – A newer generation of copper cables, it allows for faster data transfers, enabling you to reach the 10 Gb/s speed rate. Moreover, it will be widely used in the future, so it’s smart to go for these cables if you’re changing your home installations. However, they won’t reach their full capacity if they’re not accompanied by the superfast Gigabit Internet. You can read how it can improve your business Internet experience in a post available on the American Express website.
• Cat7 – The newest generation of copper cables that can carry huge loads of data. However, they are unpractical for ordinary home networks, due to their high cost.

Home owners who have to work with providers that offer only copper cables should either go for Cat5e or Cat6 cables. The former are less expensive, but they’ll become outdated soon. The latter are a bit of an investment, but they’re already becoming a standard for copper cable networks, so it’s better to get ready for the future on time.

Two-lane access to the Internet

No matter if you’re an amateur user of home network, or you need it for your business tasks, it’s clever not to depend on one type of Internet connection. For instance, in case your cables get damaged, you can lose the Internet signal. That could ruin your long-planned Netflix movie night, or some business task. Therefore, always have a backup plan. The easiest way to ensure seamless Internet access is to get a wireless adapter for your desktop. That way, you’ll make sure you don’t lose connection. This advice is most practical for desktop Internet users. What’s more, it might take some time to find the proper data cables for your home. Therefore, both desktop and laptop owners that use the Internet for business matters should always have a spare set of cables, like the ones provided by the Boscom cable experts. This two-lane access to the Internet will ensure that you’re always connected to the network, no matter what happens with your installations.

Having Internet access has become one of the utilities that every home needs to have, like electricity and water. Due to numerous changes on this market, Internet users have to keep pace with the innovations that can yield new benefits for them. So, use this piece to expand your knowledge of cables and make your home network ready for the fast Internet future.

Guest article written by: Dan Radak is a marketing professional with ten years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies. He is also a coauthor on several technology websites and regular contributor to Technivorz.