5 Best Bulk Cat6 Cable | The 1000ft Reality Check

Check Price on Amazon

The 300-foot riser-rated spool for clean vertical runs between floors.

This Cable Matters spool swaps the CM rating for a CMR (Riser) jacket, meaning it is built with a superior fire-resistant material that meets code for vertical runs between floors in residential and commercial buildings. It still uses the same 23AWG bare copper conductors as the CM version, so you get the same strong signal and power delivery for PoE, PoE+, and PoE++. The 300-foot length is shorter than the Big-A 1000ft reel, but it is a practical size for wiring a few rooms or floors without half a spool left over.

The cable supports a data transfer rate of 10 Gigabits Per Second at 550 MHz frequency (the signal bandwidth) and comes on an easy-pull reel that one reviewer called “easy to work with” for a beginner. A buyer who used it for a standard 1Gbps home network reported that the cable performed exactly as expected, noting the sheathing is firm without being too stiff and the conductors are solid copper and not aluminum — a common problem with cheaper cables. If you are taking the time to run cable in your attic, this is the kind of quality that means you only do it once.

Where this differs from the CM-rated option above is entirely about safety and code. If you are running cable between floors, a riser rating keeps the installation legit. The catch is the 300-foot length might feel tight if you are wiring a large house with long paths, but it is spot-on for a focused project.

Check Price on Amazon

A full 1000-foot riser-rated spool for the buyer who hates running out mid-project.

The Big-A spool gives you 1000 feet of 23AWG solid conductors with a CMR riser rating (fire-resistant for vertical runs between floors), which is double the length of the Cable Matters CM 500ft spool. That extra cable matters when you are wiring a whole house — five PoE cameras, three computers, a TV, and a network switch add up fast, and one buyer confirmed they did exactly that and still had a bunch left. The solid core construction means this is not the soft, cheap type, as one reviewer put it, and that rigidity helps with clean terminations and stable signal over long runs.

This cable supports Gigabit Ethernet and short-run 10 Gigabit applications at 550 MHz. It is rated CMR, so it is safe for runs between floors in a residential or commercial building. The pull box includes sequential footage markings and smooth payout to prevent tangles. One buyer who used it for a friend’s house rewiring called it clean and easy to install for a home network or server room bulk use.

The main trade-off is that the Big-A brand is less known than Cable Matters, so the traceability of the UL listing matters less if you need a specific certification for a commercial job. For a homeowner doing a full rewire, the 1000-foot length and CMR rating make it a strong value.

Check Price on Amazon

The plenum-rated 1000-footer for air ducts and drop ceilings where code is strict.

This Newyork Cables spool is built for the strictest indoor environments — plenum spaces like air ducts, drop ceilings, and HVAC returns. It carries a CMP (Plenum) rating, using Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) in the jacket to limit flame spread and toxic smoke. That makes it the right choice if you are running cable in commercial buildings or residential spaces where local code demands plenum-rated materials. The solid conductors support 10 Gigabit speed and 550 MHz bandwidth, and the box includes clear foot markers for tracking length.

One DIY buyer who wired their older home with this cable said it feels very sturdy, thick, and durable and rolled well with easy payout. They made an 80-foot run plus two 10-foot patch cables and reported great signal quality. Another reviewer called it their favorite cable, noting it is easy to pull and terminate. However, a critical review flags that the cable is CCA (copper-clad aluminum) and not solid copper — the buyer felt the listing was misleading. This is a serious warning: if you need bare copper for PoE reliability, you should verify before cutting.

Compared to the CMR-rated options above, the CMP cable is stiffer and more expensive, but it is the only choice for plenum-rated installations. The 3.8-star average from over 500 reviews is lower than other picks here, driven largely by the CCA vs. bare copper confusion in reviews.

Check Price on Amazon

The 1000-foot spool built for high-wattage PoE++ and large-scale projects.

The Rapink spool is a straight-up, no-compromise choice for demanding installations. It uses 23AWG solid bare copper (0.52mm conductors) and explicitly supports Power over Ethernet standards up to PoE++ (802.3bt), which covers high-draw devices like pan-tilt-zoom cameras and high-power access points. It passed both TIA Cat 6 Permanent Link and Channel tests, giving you a spec-sheet level of assurance that is rare in the budget tier. The 1000-foot length comes in a tangle-free box with markers every 2 feet starting at 1000 and decreasing, so you always know your remaining length.

One buyer wired a full Ubiquiti UniFi mesh system with a 2.5 GbE WAN connection using this cable, and confirmed it is indeed solid bare copper, twisted pair, unshielded with a divider and pull string. They reported it worked exactly as advertised. Another user ran it for surveillance cameras and called the quality great. The data transfer rate is 10 Gigabits Per Second, and the cable is super easy to terminate with pass-through RJ45 connectors and keystone jacks.

The biggest difference between this and the Cable Matters CM spool is the 1000-foot length — 1000 feet compared to 500 feet, same bare-copper quality. The trade-off is that Rapink does not specify an explicit fire rating in the data, so you cannot assume it meets CM, CMR, or CMP. That makes it less suitable for code-required in-wall installations where an inspector checks the jacket markings. For open-air runs, patch cables, or non-inspected spaces, it is a powerhouse.