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Dropped $90 on those flat Ethernet cables and totally regretted it
I bought a 6-pack of those super thin flat Cat6 cables off Amazon for my home office, thinking theyd look cleaner along the baseboards. After 3 days, my internet kept cutting out randomly and I traced it to two of the cables just failing to maintain a connection. Should I just go back to regular round cables or is there actually a brand of flat ones that doesn't crap out on you?
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david8213mo ago
Cable Matters and Monoprice are solid brands, but even they use CCA on some of their flat cables if you grab the budget packs. You gotta check the fine print on the product page for "solid copper" or "pure copper" before you buy. Another thing - flat cables are more fragile than round ones because the twisted pairs inside are squished together tighter. That means even a good flat cable can fail if you step on it or bend it too sharp around a corner. If you want flat for the look, just buy one from a legitimate seller and pay attention to the copper spec.
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tylerw923mo ago
Honestly, I think you just got a bad batch or a really cheap brand. Flat cables are actually fine for short runs in a home setup, a lot of people use them without issues. The real problem is a lot of those Amazon ones use super thin copper-clad aluminum wires instead of solid copper, and that stuff just falls apart after a few bends. You might have better luck grabbing a 3-pack from a name brand like Cable Matters or Monoprice, they usually use proper copper and don't crap out. But yeah, if you're running longer distances or through walls, round cables are always gonna be more reliable.
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