Coiling CAT6 Network Cable

Posted by: fatcat on 01 February 2011

I’m installing a couple of 25m lengths of CAT6 cable from my router into the loft, then down to the HIFI. If I have say 5m spare, is there any problem in coiling it up.

I know coiling speaker cable is not recommended but does the same apply to CAT6.

Posted on: 01 February 2011 by 0rangutan

No, no problem.

Posted on: 01 February 2011 by garyi

That will be fine.

Some things I learnt doing my house out was:

a. plan ahead. Put a switch in the loft. This makes a hell of a difference.
b. When terminating into outlets only expose as minimal amount of wire as possible as once unbraided you are lossing bandwith.
c. Purchase a line tester they are less than a tenner and really do help!

Posted on: 01 February 2011 by fatcat

Thanks for the advice.

Reassessing my plans is a definitely a good idea. I intended to run two cables between two double sockets, but now I’m not to sure.

Posted on: 03 February 2011 by Simon-in-Suffolk

As said no problem at all, and as a bonus if you coil the cable say in 8" diameter coil say for 8 to 10 turns nearest your audio equipment it will also act as a RF choke and impede RFI travelling along the cable to some extent, a bit like a snap on ferrite.

(Keep both ends of the coil apart)

Simon