 How much does cat 6 cable cost? How much does data cabling cost? What is the difference in cost between cat 5e and cat 6 cabling? Also what about cat 6 vs cat 6a? These are questions we get asked on a regular basis is cabling subcontractors. Price per data point. Many of our customers want to know how much a data cabling project is per point. Therefore the explanation below is a good way to know for budgetary purposes. In addition, you can scale the numbers up and down and you have your installation costs. However, as the information below will show price per data point fluctuates due to many factors. A good estimate for cat 6 cabling price per data point is 40 pounds to 55 pounds per point. However, the price can fluctuate contingent on many aspects. For example with regards to the building, timings and a number of cables within the project. Every job is unique in some way and therefore every project has a multitude of aspects that can affect the overall quotation. The most important aspect of quotations however is to always make sure the quotation is all inclusive. Furthermore, it includes everything you need. Likewise, it should also allow for your particular scheduling requirements. Making sure that the particulars are consistent with all parties will allow you to compare like for like quotations. The following aspects are areas that can affect the overall quotation for cat 6 data cabling. The total number of cat 6 outlets you wish to have installed. Cat 6 CCA or above euro class fire rated cable requirement. How far those data cabling cables are from the main cabinet to the desk or outlets. The make up of the building and its effect on how easy or difficult it is to install those cables. How the cables are spread throughout the building and how dense they are grouped. The type of building, warehouse, residential, school, commercial, modern, etc. Whether new containment is required or if all required containment is already in place. Depending on if the building has a false ceiling, false floors or both. Whether there is a requirement to run cat 6 outside. Whether the project is required to be undertaken in hours or out of hours, evenings or weekends. Where the project is located. Unique access issues, security clearances, limited working practices. Parking, congestion charge, and other factors. Cat 6 cabling costs, network installation cost estimate. As an overall average, the cost of cat 6 cabling including the cable, patch panels, and cat 6 modules will range from 40 pounds per point up to 55 pounds per point. This is slightly higher than a cat 5 installation for example. This would be based on a cat 6 structured cabling project with a minimum of 20 to 24 data cabling outlets. There will be projects where the price per data outlet will be less than this range or in some way more than this estimate. The areas explored above are the majority of the factors that contribute to moving the overall quotation. Indeed this can be to the lower or higher end of the quotation or in some instances outside of that range. What factors move the cat 6 data cabling cost to the lower estimate? When comparing the price per point for cat 6 cabling the following instances will move the quotation to be at its most competitive and most economical. The overall number of cat 6 structured cabling outlets. By economies of scale, the more cables installed in a single project would result in an overall lower price per data point. Consequently, there are economies of scale when installing more cabling outlets within a building. Labor costs remain quite static when pulling in 1, 5, 10, or 20 outlets to the same area. You will find 100 cat 5e cables in an office will cost less per point than installing 50. How difficult the installation routes are. Modern buildings are more suitable for the installation of data cabling and because the installations are more achievable it will result in a lower overall quotation. The presence of false ceilings and false floors will assist in the installation of the data cabling and will be easier than those with solid ceilings and floors. Open routes result in lower installation costs. How many cat 6 cabling outlets go to certain areas and in what density? When you have a larger density of data cabling outlets to less areas it results in a lower overall average price. If larger numbers of cat 6 cables are going to a few areas you will see a lower quotation than if a low number of cables are going to many individual areas. A hotel is a prime example of a project where the density of the cabling makes a big difference. In the majority of these projects, you have 6 to 8 data cabling outlets per bedroom. Indeed each of these cabling outlets is in a different part of the room. This results in a much higher price per point installation compared to a large number of outlets in a single office space. What factors increase cat 6 cabling price per data point to the higher end of the estimate? Lack of containment or data cabling routes. False ceilings and false floors were a contributor to easier installation and better overall costs. The reverse is found if the building consists of only solid ceilings, floors and walls. Therefore lacking in existing containment to run the cables. In these instances, the cost of containment needs to be added to the overall cabling installation cost. Depending on the containment required and how much is required this can at a time increase the overall installation by 50 to 100%. Project location and project access. Central London projects have certain fixed price considerations. For example congestion charge and increased parking costs which can at times result in almost 100 pounds a day in fixed costs. Consequently, the Central London projects will have a higher average cost. The fixed cost will make a larger difference to the price per data point on low number data outlet projects than larger outlet projects of course. The expectations on working hours and access times. If a project has the requirement of being completed out of hours or in bespoke time scales it can result in an increased price. Working out of hours can sometimes increase the speed of completion of the project due to easier access. However, in a like for like, a situation out of working hours will increase the overall cost. Unsuitable existing containment. Cat 6 cabling is slightly larger in size than cat 5e cabling. Likewise, it also has a greater bend radius. Thus less cabling being able to fit inside dado trunking or within subfloor trunking. In instances where existing trunking is in place but not suitable, you will have the cost to replace or increase the containment required. What factors increase cabling cost out of the range? Unique and complicated buildings. Buildings that require complicated installation, difficult routes or bespoke access equipment with result in a quotation that exceeds the range above. Buildings such as the following. Warehouses. High level and scaled buildings with above average height ceilings that require powered access increase the time to install the cabling and the additional cost of the equipment. Care homes. These buildings are usually a solid construction with no visible routes so require a lot of containment or builders work to create the routes. Hotels. A hotel can have a large number of overall cables but they are split into single outlets spread through the bedrooms and hotel. They are usually solid ceilings also for design and their routes are difficult to negotiate. Projects with a very low density and individual cables to many areas. Projects that involve the majority of outlets consisting of a single cat 6 cable to a large number of single location will increase the pricing out of the average range. These projects may involve Wi-Fi access points, CCTV cameras or door access control all of which are dispersed outlets all in single installation runs. Low number of required cables. If the requirements for cat 5e cabling are only a few outlets then the economies of scale don't contribute to bringing the overall price per point down. With labour being a fixed cost for a certain number of outlets a low number of outlets with have a larger average labour cost. Cat 6 speed vs cat 5e. What is the difference between cat 5 and cat 6? In comparison to cat 5e, cat 6 has more than double the bandwidth. The comparison of the bandwidth of cat 6 speed vs cat 5e is 250 MHz to 100 MHz. At the industry standard of 90 meters, cat 6 and cat 5e are similar in that both transmit 1 gigabit at 90 meters. However, cat 6 has the ability to transmit 10 gigabits up to 55 meters. Cat 5e is however deemed is not suitable. Cat 6 vs cat 6a comparisons. Cat 6 vs cat 6a speed. In comparison to cat 6, cat 6a has double the bandwidth. The comparison of the bandwidth of cat 6 vs cat 6a is 500 MHz to 250 MHz. In addition in comparing cat 6 vs cat 6a for transmission of 10 gigabit speeds, cat 6a is far superior. Cat 6a can transmit 10 gig up to 90 meters. By comparison, cat 6 can only transmit the same speed up to 55 meters. Both links can also have 5 meters patch leads at each end. Cat 6 vs cat 6a difference. The termination hardware for both cable types is also different. In cat 6 installations, usually the user outlets are terminated onto 25 by 50 mm modules. The cabinet end is terminated directly onto 24-way patch panels. With cat 6a cables both ends are terminated onto Keystone jacks. They snap into a shutter and patch panel at either end. Therefore the depth of containment whether in dado trunking, surface box, or floor box is increased for cat 6a. Other considerations. As detailed above there are many factors that contribute to your overall cat 6 cabling cost. Consideration should be taken on the initial installation to allow for the requirements of the current technology and any future requirements. Allowing for 100 data points now to cable a whole floor instead of partially cabling 50 will increase the overall cost by a significant amount less than double. However, if you install a further 50 cat 5e outlets after an initial 50 cabling outlets the cost for the second project will not be the same as the previous but more than likely more. This is because the now finished cabinets, floors, desks, and staff will have to be disrupted and the installation time will be increased. It may also now require out of hours installation and additional elevation in price. For further assistance or a free survey please email or call on the details below and click like and subscribe if you have enjoyed this video.