Tom Moeller wrote in a message to William Hargrave:
 WH> There is a proposal for Cat6, but it is so cumbersome with
 WH> pairs glued together, it's unlikely to be used much...
 TM> I seem to recall in older computers (1970's or so) there
 TM> were commonly used twisted pair ribbon cables, where the
 TM> wires were twisted and glued into pairs, with a 'regular'
 TM> flat area every 6 inches or so for crimping on connectors.
You probably have no idea what the cost was for that stuff!
 TM> I haven't seen the spec for Cat.6, but with the huge number of 
 TM> wire styles already available, I can't imagine the wire itself 
 TM> being a hinderance - more likely the terminations would be a 
 TM> pain, and getting the installers to keep the twists properly 
 TM> tight right up to the connectors...
It would be hopeless, I think.  I still have trouble getting installers to 
understand that the solid-color and striped conductors are not 
interchangeable.
General Cable's "Deamlan 5" is exactly this sort of thing, a flat jacket 
keeping each pair locked in a separate channel.  The cable is rated for 350 
Mhz, but costs twice as much as bulk Cat 5.
Belden's new "Mediatwist 350" goes even further, and does have the pairs 
bonded together.  It is supposed to be virtually free of crosstalk to 350 
MHz, but it costs almost four times as much as bulk Cat 5.
 
-- Mike
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