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[HPsauce]

Another grey Foxconn one I have is just a "2-pair patch cable".
And another says "Cat.5" and the EIA reference as well as "2-pair".
Can't be bothered to check any more.....

[sheddyian]

Yes, I have a few short router cables like that, good for 100mbps but no more. 

I only became aware of their existence relatively recently when I bought a gigabit switch and connected a PC close to it that I knew had a gigabit ethernet card, only to see it running at 100mbps.
As it worked fine with a longer standard Cat5e patch cable I investigated further and found a number in my collection - all short, oddly coloured and supplied with routers.

Just how much of a saving is there really to be made by the supplier/manufacturer by including a bare-minimum 2 pair patch cable with a router instead of a standard CAT5e?   

Likewise, as I mentioned in a different post, my modem came with an incredibly thin (28AWG) RJ11 flat cable.  Replacing it with a no-nonsense but thicker (26AWG) RJ11 gave me a repeatably improved S/N margin.

Given this money scrimping on accessories, it encourages me further to try to run my modem from a 12v battery to compare the performance when running on the supplied 12v switch mode PSU that's quite noisy on an AM radio.

Ian

[sevenlayermuddle]

Just how much of a saving is there really to be made by the supplier/manufacturer by including a bare-minimum 2 pair patch cable with a router instead of a standard CAT5e?   

I'd say there is actually an argument in favour of reducing the number of cores to the bare minimum, as each additional (unused) pair increases the metallic surface area that is exposed to noise pickup, and that noise can then be coupled into the other conductors, thereby increasing the noise they already carry.

Given this money scrimping on accessories, it encourages me further to try to run my modem from a 12v battery to compare the performance when running on the supplied 12v switch mode PSU that's quite noisy on an AM radio.

On a slightly related note, one thing I like about the Netgear routers (such as DG834GT) is the power brick, judged from size and weight, seems to contain  a big, heavy, old fashioned transformer.  In contrast, the smaller, lighter bricks that power some other routers are obviously 240V to 12V switch-mode supplies which, I always suspect, are more likely to emit unhelpful switching noise.

[c6em]

If you are making millions of them then any small saving is indeed well worth it in terms of the fixed one off design/purchasing/drawings modifications effort to acquire the savings and the few pence per cable unit saved - because you are selling so many. 
Additionally the smaller the overall cost of the unit the greater will be the % reduction in cost from making the change to say 'cheaper wire'.  Saving 2p of the cost off a £20 router is more significant than saving the same off a £150 one.

Conversely if you work in bespoke high value equipment which will all be ones and two off's; spending a lot of time to save £5 per unit when each unit costs £million+ is not worth either the savings made or your time in devising/implementing the savings.

[burakkucat]

. . . an easy mistake for . . .

No! (Emphatically.) Wizards do not make mistakes. They may have an inadvertent mishap. 

Nothing further needs to be said.