[PLUG] Cat-6 keystone jacks in Portland

[John Jason Jordan]

On Tue, 08 Aug 2006 17:40:37 -0700
m0gely <m0gely at telestream.com> dijo:

> Have you tried Cat5e jacks?  I just wired an entire building with Cat6 
> and used the 5e jacks (they sent the wrong jacks in the shipment).  Even 
> though Cat6 wire is thicker I had no trouble.  AFAIK, the only part of 
> the jack that makes it Cat6 is the larger diameter holes, and the way 
> the holes are offset to make them still fit in that small space.  I 
> believe Fry's does have Cat6 jacks but I am unsure of brand and you will 
> pay dearly there.

I finally got hold of someone at Fry's, but I am not sure he gave me
correct information. He did confirm that they had Cat5e and Cat6, but
only in packs of 5 for the Cat6 ($16.99) and 10 for the Cat5e ($29.99).
In other words, for quantity ten, the Cat6 are $34 and the Cat5e are
$30. That's not a huge difference.

On eBay I can get a bag of 50 Cat6 for $97 with free shipping. It's
just that my wiring project needs them *now*. (I thought I had bought
them already, so here I sit unable to finish until I get them.) I can
also get Cat5e on eBay for far less. I thought of doing what you did --
use Cat6 cable (which I have already bought), and Cat5e jacks. After
all, the bandwidth I have today isn't going to come close to taxing
even Cat5e. If somewhere in the future I need full Cat6 bandwidth, I
can just replace the jacks.

However, the dude at Fry's said that the Cat5e are Leviton and the Cat6
are not -- although he couldn't tell the brand name. Then he said that
"Keystone" and "Leviton" are not interchangeable. That is, you can't
use a Keystone jack in a Leviton wall plate and vice-versa. That's the
part that sounds bogus to me. I have already bought the plates, and
they are Leviton. And I have *one* Cat6 jack that I got at Fry's, and
it fits the Leviton plate just fine. I think he was making stuff up. 

I guess tomorrow I'll call ENU, Norvac and other local suspects to see
what I can turn up.