Re: CAT5e cable

Les,

1)    The Durometer of the plastic coating on the wire and the sheath.
     Range is 0 -100 and the higher the number the harder the
     material.  I doubt that you will find that in the specs, but.

This (the "more desirable") seems to be *thicker* than the other.
The inferior product almost looks/feels like "shrink wrap over 4 pairs".
I.e., you can FEEL the pairs under the jacket.
The nicer (in terms of routing) cable has a more substantial
feel to it (though not as if the jacket was a *tube* with loose
conductors within).

2)    CCA  Copper Coated or Clad Aluminum  I was always careful
     when buying CAT-5 or CAT-6 cable.  Always wanted Solid Copper!
     Look for that on the cable box or on the cable itself.

Yes.  I am also wondering if stranded would have been a better
choice (too late now) despite being "premises wiring" (not
patch cables).

3)    Cable Gauge. 22 AWG vs 24 AWG vs 26 AWG vs 28 AWG  The higher
     the number the thinner the wire.

I've always used #24AWG.

Hope that help with your challenge!!

My concern is mainly to know how to specify the type of cable
that should be used in future installations (in which I won't
likely be involved).  Other than naming a specific vendor
and model number (whose manufacture could also change, over
time)
Both (all?) cables seem electrically similar and have the same
stated pull strength.  But, I noticed feeding several cables
through the EMT, conduit bodies, els, etc. there was a definite
difference in how the "flimsier" one handled the bends that
you encounter in those situations.
As I suspect "paid help" would be less meticulous than I, it
would be wise to specify materials that they would be less
likely to abuse.  <frown>
Thanks!