I am about to do an installation of power-over-ethernet (POE) analog cameras in a large apartment building. The cable runs are mostly indoors, with just a few feet of the whole installation to be outside, to reach a couple of outdoor mounting spots.
I foresee upgrading these cameras in 5-10 years, as camera quality and value are advancing rapidly every year. Presumably they will be upgraded with digital cameras. I would like to run ethernet cable now that will be relatively "future ready" and will serve well in 5-10 years, to avoid having to run cable again.
As you likely know, at this point Cat5e or Cat6 is basically standard issue cable, and fairly economical at roughly $75 to $200 per 1000 foot roll. Cat 6a goes up in price somewhat, to $250-$350 per roll. And Cat 7 is a major jump in price, to somewhere in the range of $700+ per roll.
What I'm wondering is which cable features are actually the most important, or not important at all, in choosing a more "future ready" cable? How important is the internal pair-separating spline (found in Cat6)? What about basic shielding: just-inside-the-outside-cable-jacket foil wrapping (found in some Cat6 cable and all Cat7) vs Unshielded Twisted Pair or UTP? Or foil wrapping of each conductor pair (as found in Cat7 cable)? Is one type of shielding material better than another (e.g. Polyolefin (PO) vs. Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP); FEP seems to be much more expensive.)
I assume that solid conductors are better than stranded, but is that true? Does 23 AWG (or even 22 awg) provide much benefit over 24 AWG? Do larger 23 AWG cause problems with terminations? Is there a benefit of reduced crosstalk in terminating in T568A vs T568B? How do EZ RJ45 (pass-through) connectors affect things vs standard RJ45 ends vs RJ45 connectors with an internal load bar?
See this article for an opinion on RJ45 connector types.
If I get 23 AWG cable (larger cable), which connectors are recommended?
I realize that much of performance degradation comes down to the fine details and quality of terminations. That doesn't even concern me that much, because, the cost of re-terminating, if needed in 5 or 10 years to get improved performance, will be quite cheap (compared to needing to re-pull all cables). So I'm most concerned about which basic construction elements of a cable are worth paying a premium for, and why?
And according to this article, more than 80 percent of cable labeled as Cat6 does not actually perform at Cat6 standard. So, which brands are best/most trusted? According to that article, Belden is one safe choice.
I hope someone can give some good advice on what seems like a topic of potential interest to many, but for which I have found no easy answers.
Thanks!