[lug] Hilarious net cable market

[D. Stimits]

Barney Treadway wrote:
> Hmmm, and wireless access points start at $130.

Wireless latency is terrible, the security is also a problem. For $55 I 
can get 1000 feet of 100 Mbit network behind a *real* firewall, with 
traffic shaping/QoS.

D. Stimits, stimits AT idcomm.com

> 
> ;-)
> 
> Barney
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Chris Riddoch" <socket at peakpeak.com>
> To: <lug at lug.boulder.co.us>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 1:38 AM
> Subject: Re: [lug] Hilarious net cable market
> 
> 
> 
>>"D. Stimits" <stimits at idcomm.com> writes:
>>
>>
>>>I just discovered that if one wants to buy network cable for cat 5e,
>>>that most of the retail stores are charging at least a 500%
>>>markup.
>>
>>Hmmm. Where are you looking?
>>
>>
>>>Whereas Saunders sells it for $0.25/foot, and a few others around
>>>$0.20/foot, that a regular electrical supply shop (retail, but sells
>>>to contractors) is selling the same thing for less than $0.06/foot.
>>
>>And the Home Depot in Westminster (where I went for supplies when I
>>was wiring my girlfriend's mom's house) was selling it for about
>>$.10/foot.
>>
>>
>>>The only problem is they sell 1000 feet minimum (the size of a box).
>>
>>The box we got was 500 feet, and cost about $45.
>>
>>
>>>This isn't so bad when you realize that to wire many houses you
>>>would want at least 150 feet, and it costs the same to buy that much
>>>at the retail stores as it does to buy 1000 feet at the electrical
>>>supply shop.
>>
>>Hmm. I don't know how many drops you're making, but I would seriously
>>recommend giving yourself a little more slack than 150 feet.  We had
>>to go from basement to attic through the chase, and then drop down
>>into walls on the second floor to get to the bedrooms.  One line per
>>bedroom, one in the living room, one in the basement, times one cable
>>for ethernet and another for phone (okay, so maybe we were being a
>>little excessive, but I hope someone in the future will be thankful
>>that we used cat5e for the phone line, when they want to use the cable
>>for more ethernet when we're all using VoIP)... trust me, it all adds
>>up quickly. We strung a little under 400 feet of cable.
>>
>>Of course, I have no idea what your setup is. YMMV.
>>
>>
>>>Related hardware like connectors is about 1/3 of the price of the
>>>lower priced retail shops, I am amazed at how much profit is being
>>>made on network cables and related supplies like connectors and face
>>>plates.
>>
>>I suspect Home Depot makes most of their money on the smaller
>>bits. Connectors, wall plates, old-wall boxes, patch panels,
>>wall-mount electrical boxes, cable... once we got everything we
>>needed, as cheaply as we could find, it ran us just past $300. I
>>suspect it could be done cheaper, if you already have a relatively
>>complete selection of hardware tools.  I'm quite certain that paying
>>someone else to do it for us would cost multiple times what it cost us
>>in materials.
>>
>>
>>>If I pick up a 1000 foot roll, and use a couple hundred feet of it
>>>(solid core fastcat 5e), would anyone here be interested in buying
>>>the remainder at cost? Probably in a week or so.
>>
>>We've still got a bunch, but I'm sure someone will want some. Try
>>shopping around a bit more. I bet you can find decent prices.
>>