I cringe at the very thought of it, but I've got a situation where I'm forced to splice a 300' cat6 cable. It will be roughly in the middle of the run. I'm planning to jack one end and plug the other. The splice will be in one of the few locations that is still somewhat accessible for re-entry if needed. Comments?

It will imped the quality of the cat 6 transmission.
Is there no other way.

Dave-

Well if you have to, you have to. Why a jack and plug? You might get just as good results with scotch locks....

Do you have a Penta Scanner or equivalent? Try an experiment with a hunk of cable and see which method gives you the best results.

Sam

I haven't done it on Cat 6 yet, but have with Cat 5e. I use a BIX block. I only strip it far enough to terminate. They haven't failed me yet! However I only do this as a last resort!

You have to do what you have to do!
I've done the jack and plug thing with a cat 5e once. Above a ceiling tile, so it was in a "good" location.

Jim

Dave,

https://www.telephoneparts.com/index.cgi?product=Data/Cat5(slash)6++Jacks/Cat5(slash)6+Splices/pcode/60002SPLICE

I've used the Cat-5e kits. They work well. I've even buried them in a splice case.

Carl

What's this Cat 6 run going to be used for, and how electrically noisy is the environment?

(Also, I agree that you might as well Scotchlok this. It's probably no worse than the amount of untwisting you'll have to do to make up the plug and jack, and has the bonus of being more permanent and water resistant.)

It will work just fine ..... but is there a chance you have AC power nearby? if so put in a small switch.

allentell makes a Cat6 punchdown splice Íve used i will get you the part number when I get home this evening

Go ahead and plug/jack it. Dollars to donuts what it's being used for would be just as well served by CAT3. CAT6 is overkill for just about everything but, hey, it's the latest must have according to the CG.

-Hal

I've used plug and jack to extend cables a few times, never had any issues.

As long as it's 6 and not 6a, and given the length of the run, they shouldn't expect to run 10G, this would work. But I really don't like placing hidden active equipment in a path. It also prevents them from using anything but Ethernet on this run.

If, as Hal mentions, they're just going to run 100Base-TX or T4 over it, sure, it'll work fine. It will probably work fine for Gig as well.

But, it all depends on their use case, and whether or not they're asking for certification on these runs. It's worth being cautious here.

I've used the splices that Carl referenced above, for Cat5e, and they worked fine.

You don't say what happened that this cable needs to be spliced. I'm assuming that it's something that the customer or somebody working for them did. I would give then the two options, splice it and know the limitations or replace it. Let them worry about it.

-Hal

Do Not use Scotchlok.
Do Not use Bix blocks, 66-blocks or even 110 blocks.

The Cat5/6 in-line splice mentioned earlier is the best way to do it. This is designed to keep the cable pairs close to their correct length and will limit skew, crosstalk and other interference that will be introduced using the other methods. Using an in-line split like this will even pass level 3 Certification of the cable run.

Using a Keystone Jack and Modular plug will also work in a pinch. Even 2 modular plugs and a coupler will work.


The worse splice I have ever seen done was someone extending 6 Cat5E lines and using a patch panel and Modular plugs. The whole mess was laid up in the hard ceiling on top of an A/C duct.

It may or maynot pass a CAT 6 CERT test, doesn't mean it won't work. Much of this stuff is way overrated by the IT types. I agree with using the splice kits for the best results.

I agree. I like using the splice kit becouse it looks neat vs scothclocks and if a "IT type" ever questions it I can point out that it is a "official" Cat 6 splice

If Sam says Scothlocks work then I'm sure they do

the allentel part number is AT66CB-52 although the one Carl linked to looks the same

Do it, you want have any issues. Another alternative would be to use a 2-hole surface mount box with 2 Cat 6 inserts and a short patch cable.

-Larry, Real Cool Data Dude.

Either the splice block that basically has two 6 rated termination points that are connected via circuit board or wires or two jacks and a 1' patch cable. If done right, even 6A will pass this certification most of the time depending on your craftsmanship.

I try to stay away from crimping any 8P8Cs if I don't have to. Then again, I don't carry any 6 rated connectors to begin with.

I don't disagree, but sometimes certification is part of the deal. If it's a repair, use whatever you can (that's not active, if at all possible) and explain its limitations.

I haven't used them but those splices do look like just the thing.

I suggested scotch locks because I hate the idea of crimping on plugs. Also, you don't need to untwist too much.

My preference is to rerun the cable, but as we all know, sometimes....

Sam

There are a lot of was to do things in this world and only a few ways of doing it right

I'm considered an IT type by a few people and I have seen network cable spliced many different way and yes it would work, for a short time.

As it has been pointed out in many threads here (Ugly Cabling as an example. Just because it works, doesn't make it right.

Thanks Guys. And special thanks to Carl & Skip. My distributor stocked the Pan Pacific PT-116JB Cat6 inline junction box. It certainly looks like the best way to do this thing. And Hal, it's something one of my guys did, so yes, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Dave, be cautious when punching down the wires. In the Cat5e version, the two ends of the device are not symmetrical. The wiring colors on the label are correct, but they don't show up in a logical manner. I don't know about the Cat6 ones, but just be careful, is the point.

Thanks for the heads up Arthur!

I've used the CAT5e versions of these:
https://deepsurplus.com/Network-Str...-Junction-Box-110-Punch-down-Style-White

Worked fine. I didn't need to certify the runs however. Data cabling is pretty resilient these days, so long as you get the color code right. I've seen data cabling work just fine when wrapped around AC power cables, fluorescent lights, etc. But I do try my best (when running new cables) to avoid being next to those sources, if only for the simple fact of keeping everyone's cabling (data, phone, fiber, power, etc) separate for future running of cabling. Keeps everything neat and tidy.