cat 5 cable with a strong jacket ?

While I've never seen the PVC jacket on CAT3 or CAT5 cable break, I've seen it on rubber and PVC covered audio cables in nightclubs dry out and break after a few years. I suspect the nicotine from all the cigarette smoke contributed to that.

Other than very, very, very old cable (and CAT5 hasn't been around that many decades) or cable left in the sun, I can't imagine it breaking unless you have some sort of extreme mechanical stress...in which case solid conductor cable won't last at all.

With that said, yes...some CAT5 does appear to have a thicker PVC covering, but its not predictable when you'll find it. For example I bought six boxes of grey PVC made by General Cable from Home Depot tree yeas ago and one box of cable had a jacket that was twice as thick as the other boxes.

On a side note about sunlight damage...white nylon wire ties last one summer in the hot Texas sun and shatter when the next summer comes along. Black one are more resistant, but they too will break after several years. Same with non-outdoor rated PVC covered cables.

I think the breaks come from a mindless woman stepping on them.

I think power cords may be more resilient to being trodden on. I've yet to see the jacket broken on one of those, though they are not located there the cat 5 is.

A cat5 cable with that kind of jacket would be good.

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk wrote in part:

I'd be deeply concerned about the conductors if I saw the jacket broken. How could that happen without kinking, squashing or over-pulling? Cables aren't designed for that.

Plenum cable usually has a thicker, less flexible jacket to make the smoke rating. I have seen ScFTP Cat5 with a braided sheath. But these aren't designed for abuse either.

Jacket will often break if left out in the sun. And it should, because it's not meant for outdoor use, still less interbuilding which is dangerous (lightening).

-- Robert

In that case, you need a cord cover (a.k.a., cable protector), not a different cable. Most places that sell office supplies have them.

-Larry Jones

They say winning isn't everything, and I've decided to take their word for it. -- Calvin

With high heels on. If woman weighs 120 pounds and stands on one high heel with a quarter inch square area, thats 480 pounds per square inch...and thats not counting the increased impact pressure of a foot step.