When Should You Buy Booted Ethernet Cables?

Ethernet Patch Cables with Snagless Boots are manufactured with molded plastic shielding to ensure a tight fit into receptacles. This reduces the possibility of unintended disconnections and damage to the cable.

What does it mean when a cable is "booted," and when should you consider buying one as opposed to a cable without a boot? Cables.com offers a variety of cables with both booted and bootless connectors, and you should consider what kind of environment you mean to install your cable in before deciding which to purchase. The safety and stability of your data connection depends on it!

Cables with Snagless Boots

Have you ever taken a good look at an ethernet or network patch cable? If you have, you might have noticed a bit of molded plastic shielding the space where the connector is joined to the length of the cable itself. It may look something like this:

To put it simply, a booted ethernet cable is meant to fit snugly in its receptacle. This reduces the possibility of unintended disconnections and damage that might occur to the connector or its port in an environment where there might be movement around the cord, like maybe beneath an office desk. Cables.com offers a variety of ethernet cables with snagless boots.

Cables.com stocks a variety of cables with the snagless boot feature, including our Cat6 network patch cables rated for up to 550 Mhz. But what about our bootless ethernet cables? When would a patch network cable with no boot be the better option for you?

When Should You Buy a Bootless Cable?

It all depends on how your data network is set up, namely, the kind of noise it might encounter as well as where it's physically situated. Now that we've had a look at a booted network patch cable, let's check out a cable without a boot.

Like our cables with the snagless boot, our bootless blue Cat6 550 Mhz Network patch cable features a sturdy PVC jacket and quality RJ45 plugs on either end. The key difference is that a network patch cord without a bootallows for maximized speed and performance in data centers and home networks. This is just one reason why they're the best cables for high-density environments like cramped patch panels. When space is tight and you don't anticipate a lot of interference with the cables in your data center, a bootless ethernet cable is the right way to go. 

Shopping Cables.com

With the broad range of cables featured on Cables.com, you're sure to find one that matches the particular configurations you're looking for - booted or bootless ethernet patch network cables, plenum-rated, shielded or unshielded, all of it conveniently available here on one website. We offer cable in lengths ranging from a mere .5 feet all the way up to 100 feet and more, and you'll also have the option of purchasing all of our cables - including power cords and fiber optic cords - in multi packs as well as in bulk. Not sure what exactly it is your network needs? Our Quick Patch Finder can help with that! Plug in your specifications, and it will suggest a cable setup that might work for you.