I have been fairly impressed with quality of all the product I have purchased to this date from the Ubiquiti. Although I used to think Ethernet cable is all the same so long as they are from the same category, this turned out to be not true. However, I could not find a good information about a high quality Cat 6 cable. I use Amazon’s reviews; however, they are not necessary most technical and in my case pushing the cable to its extreme limit i.e. 10GBase-T, I need the supreme quality or in reality the cable really meet what it is categorized. Since I’ve been always interested in UniFi Ethernet patch cable for its form factor, I’ve decided to give a try. What I really wanted was a 0.3m i.e. 1 ft version but it had been out of stock and only cable available on short length in US is 0.1 m so that’s the one I ended up getting and testing today.
Highlights
- 0.1 m/4 in is really a 8 inch or 0.2m cable.
- Built quality reminds me nothing of any other patch cable I have owned, but it reminds me of Apple cable products e.g. USB (C), Head Phone, Lightening etc.
- Capable of PoE++ and 10G.
Build Quality
This is a just patch cable so they are used in my network utility rack. One would think the how much built quality difference can such ethernet cable make? It turned out a lot.
Compared to others I have purchased/used to this date, which include CableMatter, Ultra Clarity and others came with some gears I’ve purchased at some point. These look and feel premium. The closest comparison is not other Ethernet cable I’ve used but rather Apple’s genuine cable products e.g. lightening, USB C or head phones.
If Apple was to make an ethernet patch cable, it will be UniFi Patch cable.
If Apple was to make an ethernet patch cable, it will be UniFi Patch cable.
One main reason I purchased this is to use its bendable end feature. Yes they are really bendable and by doing so we can gain a little additional length.
Effective Small Turn
I have couple of my IoT hubs (Philips Hue and Arlo Basestation) packed under TV cabinet. One of the minor, but real issue was that in such confined space, even the shortest Ethernet Cable I made myself like 5 cm/2 inch was too thick and prevented compact placement as being too short it lacked any bending capability. In contrast, using the 1ft Cat 6 patch cable purchased had better bending capacity; however, still had enough tension to the cable when trying to put a real sharp turns.
This is where the UniFi Patch cable’s thin central wiring came in handy. I can easily make 360 turn/bend without putting any tension on the wire. Basically, I had no problem placing one device on top of the another and to the side by side. UniFi cable even allows connecting one port of switch/patch panel to the next without any tension.
Specifications
Category: Category 6 unshielded
Currently, there is no Cat 6A nor Shielded cable option from UniFi. Having said this, Cat 6 should provide 10Gbps full speed under 55m so one would ask do we really need Cat 6A? Well, what I have learned is cables at patch panel or ethernet jack to end station i.e. client device/switch/server are likely to be seen as part of one single added cable from point A to B. So if we had overall run longer than 55 m, end patch cable may need to be more than Cat 6 (in theory) but I haven’t tested this myself.
Speed | Full 10Gbps Capable
Recently, I had to go through defective ethernet cable troubleshooting where I got a chance to learn that “not all Ethernet Cables are made equal.” This recent incidence has given me a setup where I can test patch cable quality.
In my home, I can make a 10G bandwidth connection between iMac 27” 2020 model and Qnap NAS, where iPerf 3 server is running. Although the real issue is 90ft long run of defective Cat 6 TrueCable, this provides a setup where I can compare Patch cable quality, perhaps A vs. B grading or even more subtle A+ vs. A. So I have no idea actual precision of this setup, but I know Fluke MicroScanner POE ($600+) cable verifier failed to differentiate these cables. Below is the test result.
Here we can see that the UltraClarity cable failed the test, but it is important to re-emphasize that the real issue here is not UltraClarity cable but defective long TrueCable run. In fact, all cables provided steady 10G speed when the another, functioning 90ft cable path was used.
Regardless, the take home message here is that UniFi Patch cable performed at higher Cat 6 standard than some of the other. After all, ethernet cable must be able to carry the bandwidth it is promised to carry for its category.
Length | Extra 2-3 inches
As you can see the 0.1 m or 4 in refers thin part of the cable. Since the cable is bendable at each ends, this actually serves longer than 4 inch.
5 in for sure and actually close to 6 inch i.e. 15 cm in the server rack. So in this cable is actually equivalent of 0.5 ft patch cable. If it were straight connection of two devices, this can do another 1-2 inches.
Since other vender’s patch cables report end to end length including RJ45 Male terminal portion, 0.1m (4 in) UniFi Ethernet patch cable is really a 8 in or 0.2 m patch cable.
UniFi Ethernet patch cable is really a 8 in or 0.2 m patch cable.
PoE | PoE++ Class 6
This was tested using Fluke MicroScanner PoE with USW-24-Pro PoE Gen 2 802.3bt port. USW-24-Pro PoE++ port seems like max out 60W output which corresponds to client device input of 51W, which is corresponds to Class 6 for Type 3 PoE++ (ref). So I think it is the limitation of the switch I have rather than cable as all other patch cable I tested had the same reading. In fact, Cat 5 cable should be able to support PoE++ even higher voltage Type 4; therefore, I have no doubt this cable will.
As for real world use case, I have these patch cable now connecting keystone jack on network rack to the patch panel, then patch panel to the switch. Some of client devices are UniFi Access Point including those requiring PoE+ (8W) and working properly.
Value
Price: $2
Putting a value on patch cable is a bit tough if one believes all cables are the same. The built quality, aesthetics and bendable features certainly give more premium feel to UniFi Patch cable but how much more are we paying for it?
As for reference Cable Matters 1ft Cat 6 unshielded cable costs $15.99 for 10 ie $1.59 per piece. UniFi sells at 50 cable batch which costs $92 or $1.82 per piece. So we are taking about roughly 20% difference. As long as the internal quality consistently meets cat 6 with 10G full speed, I think it’s worth the price.
What I don’t like about the price/cost is the shipping. Ubiquiti recently changed the policy so that now we can get 2 day free shipping for orders over $100 in US; however, $100 worth of patch cable are usually too many for the most home users. However, if one just wants to buy a single cable, this is what I get.
The above is a single 1 m Patch cable. The cable itself costs $2.60 but shipping costs almost 2x the cable itself. Now for their defense, the shipping does not change if change the order to $96 worth of cables so the relative shipping cost goes down as we order more cables.
Overall
This is the highest quality patch cable I have seen/owned to this date. Up until seeing this cable, I did not know there is a “premium patch cable”UniFi Patch cable reminds me of Apple product cables than any other ethernet cable I’ve owned/seen. With bendable end feature, 0.1m (4 in) cable can cover actual distance of 0.15m (6 in/0.5 ft). This cable is capable of carrying PoE++ and 10GBase-T. I would definitely buy them again to the point I would like to have all my Ethernet cable converted to UniFi patch cable. However, there is associated the shipping cost so I might need to figure out exactly how many of which cables I need before ordering.
UniFi Ethernet Patch Cable
1.82-2.00
Pros
- Premium, Apple-Class Built Quality
- Full Cat 6 Quality
Cons
- No Shielded or Cat 6a Option
- Shipping Cost Unless Buy a Batch