Russell Beattie Notebook

Cheap Ethernet Cables

Posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006 9:41 PM

On my second trip to The Home Depot near my house today looking to replace the thick orange extension cable I had just cut in half with the new hedge trimmer I bought on my first trip out 30 minutes earlier, I noticed something. Home Depot sells a lot of electronics cables right on the same aisle as the extension cords. Everything from RCA adapters to ethernet cables - and they're all really cheap! Or I should say, relatively cheap, compared to every electronics store I can think of like CompUSA or BestBuy which crank up the price on the simplest cables to obscene levels by pretending they are all "gold-plated, high quality" cables or whatnot.

Check out how bad they are for yourself - the cheapest ethernet cable Best Buy sells online is 3 foot long and costs $16.99!!!! I just picked up a 15 foot ethernet cable for $6.98 at The Home Depot. They had RCA cables for like $3 - I paid $8 for one down at Fry's not too long ago as well. They also had other stuff like adapters, etc. It's not Radio Shack, but I was pretty surprised.

Just you know, a public service announcement. Next time you're in the need for this stuff head over to Home Depot. I may pick up some more when I go over again soon, having cut through the second extension cord with the mower not too long after arriving home with it. You know, chopping live electric cables makes pretty sparkly sparks!

-Russ

Update: Erik went to the Depot too and got a bunch of cheap cable ties for under his desk. 100 for $4, nice! With that many you can put them ever few feet and really clean everything up. I'll have to remember that one too... :-)