@ BritBrat,
Home plugs are usually quite tolerant, provided you stick to the slower speed ones at about 80 Mbps.
I've used them successfully in two story houses across different ring mains. They will usually work from a single consumer unit with fuses or circuit breakers.
They do not like multiple consumer units nor surge-protected i.e. filtered sockets. Although it is not recommended, they will usually work in short extension leads as well.
One major advantage is that you can reconfigure your network just by moving the home plug to a different socket.
The bottom of this article lists the various Cat x cables:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EIA_568ANote that both Cat 5 & 6 can be obtained as FTP (Foil Twisted Pair) screened cable which includes a bare drain wire. Special sockets are available to connect the earth (drain wire).
IF the screen is to be earthed it
MUST only be at one end. If ethernet cable is to be used outside, external grade black sheathed cables are a better idea. Long horizontal lengths in the open are to be avoided as they can be susceptible to lightening. Note also that, unlike BT's dropwire cable, there are no steel strain relief cores in cat 5 or 6 cables.
This company has a wide selection of cables and accessories:-
http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/acatalog/Copper_Cables.htmlOne difference is that most of the Cat 5 & 6 cables use a solid core of about 24 AWG, whereas the shielded ADSL Nation cable is a flex with multiple thinner strands of conductor, but I don't know of its equivalent cross sectional area, nor its resistance.
I suggest its safer not to try and mix Ethernet and phone services in the same multicore. If you are using RJ11 plugs in RJ45 sockets the centre conductors must be used for the telephone pair. Note also that some WiFi antenna devices transmit power over the Ethernet on unused cores.
If you are intending to make off several cables then the following tool is invaluable. It allows the sheath to be cut cleanly and there is a core cropping blade which is ideal for terminating in RJ45 plugs.
http://www.millsltd.com/T70-9957-Fusion-Cat6-Twisted-Pair-Cable-Stripper.htmlThey have lots of other lovely boys toys as well !
Kind regards,
Walter