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Names Cat 8.1 among its cables, and never says solid or stranded

ARLI Crimp plug for installation cable to AWG23, five categories named, pack of 100

The plug on this shelf with the longest list of cable categories, including the only mention of Cat 8.1, published for installation cable up to AWG23 — and one that never uses the words solid or stranded.

ARLI shielded RJ45 crimp plug with metal strain relief, insertion guide and boot

ARLI Crimp plug for installation cable to AWG23, five categories named, pack of 100

The plug on this shelf with the longest list of cable categories, including the only mention of Cat 8.1, published for installation cable up to AWG23 — and one that never uses the words solid or stranded.

Category rating
No single rating is assigned to the plug itself. The first bullet names the cables it supports instead: Cat 5e, Cat 6, Cat 6a, Cat 7, Cat 7a and Cat 8.1. It is the only listing on this shelf to name Cat 8.1
Solid or stranded compatibility
Not published on the listing — neither word appears. What the first bullet names instead is a cable type, installation cable, which is a use rather than a conductor construction, and the page never says which construction the contacts are cut for
Shielded or unshielded
Shielded — stated in the second bullet, which names a screened construction with gold-plated contacts and credits both with consistent data transmission
Accepted conductor diameter
Up to AWG23 — stated in the first bullet as the ceiling for the installation cable it is compatible with. No lower limit is given, and no millimetre figure appears
Accepted cable diameter
Not published on the listing — the outside diameter never appears, although a boot and a metal strain relief both have to pass over the sheath
Load bar presence
Supplied — an insertion guide is included with every plug, named in the fourth and fifth bullets as part of what arrives in each polythene bag alongside the plug and the boot
Pass-through or standard body
Standard — the fourth bullet describes installation with a crimping tool, and nothing on the page describes conductors leaving the front of the body or being trimmed flush
Pack quantity
One hundred — stated in the title and in the fifth bullet, each plug bagged with its strain relief, insertion guide and boot
Amazon reference
B073XRKW1D (same reference on 3 Amazon marketplaces)
EAN
4260624572079
  • The gauge ceiling is published, and it is the one that suits the AWG23 installation cable sold on this site
  • Every plug arrives with its own insertion guide and boot rather than needing them ordered separately
  • Solid or stranded is never written, so the commonest mismatch on this shelf cannot be checked

Best for: Terminating fixed runs of thick installation cable, where the AWG23 ceiling is the number that had to be matched.

≈ 30 €
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Specifications

Category rating
No single rating is assigned to the plug itself. The first bullet names the cables it supports instead: Cat 5e, Cat 6, Cat 6a, Cat 7, Cat 7a and Cat 8.1. It is the only listing on this shelf to name Cat 8.1
Solid or stranded compatibility
Not published on the listing — neither word appears. What the first bullet names instead is a cable type, installation cable, which is a use rather than a conductor construction, and the page never says which construction the contacts are cut for
Shielded or unshielded
Shielded — stated in the second bullet, which names a screened construction with gold-plated contacts and credits both with consistent data transmission
Accepted conductor diameter
Up to AWG23 — stated in the first bullet as the ceiling for the installation cable it is compatible with. No lower limit is given, and no millimetre figure appears
Accepted cable diameter
Not published on the listing — the outside diameter never appears, although a boot and a metal strain relief both have to pass over the sheath
Load bar presence
Supplied — an insertion guide is included with every plug, named in the fourth and fifth bullets as part of what arrives in each polythene bag alongside the plug and the boot
Pass-through or standard body
Standard — the fourth bullet describes installation with a crimping tool, and nothing on the page describes conductors leaving the front of the body or being trimmed flush
Pack quantity
One hundred — stated in the title and in the fifth bullet, each plug bagged with its strain relief, insertion guide and boot
Amazon reference
B073XRKW1D (same reference on 3 Amazon marketplaces)
EAN
4260624572079

On the listing

A shielded RJ45 crimp plug in an eight-position body, sold a hundred to a packet, each bagged with a metal strain relief, an insertion guide and a kink-protection boot. The first bullet states compatibility with installation cable up to AWG23 and names the categories: Cat 5e, Cat 6, Cat 6a, Cat 7, Cat 7a and Cat 8.1. The second names gold-plated contacts and a screened construction. The third credits the metal strain relief with protecting the cable from wear. The fourth describes installation with a crimping tool, made straightforward by the insertion guide supplied. The fifth lists the contents again.

AWG23, and why the ceiling is the useful number

One figure on this packet does more work than the six category names beside it. Installation cable up to AWG23 is the compatibility statement, and AWG23 is the gauge that separates the plugs on this shelf into two groups: the ones that take thick fixed-run cable and the ones that print a refusal.

A drum of Cat 7 or Cat 7A installation cable is normally AWG23. A plug built around a 0.9 to 1.1 mm window is not going to accept it, and one listing here says so in capitals. This one accepts it by name. That is a real difference and it is expressed in the only unit that expresses it.

Six categories named, and the plug itself unrated

The list is the longest on this shelf and it includes the only appearance of Cat 8.1 anywhere in this hub. It reads impressively, and it is worth being clear about what it is: a list of cables the plug is offered for, not a class the plug is specified to.

A link takes the rating of its weakest component, which means that terminating a Cat 6a run with a plug of an unstated class produces a link of an unstated class. Three plugs on this shelf publish a rating for themselves — Cat 6 or Cat 6a. This one publishes a compatibility list instead, and the two are not the same document.

The words that are not here

Solid. Stranded. Neither appears anywhere in the title or the five bullets. What appears instead is installation cable, which is a type of cable and a strong hint, and a hint is not a specification.

The gap matters because contacts are cut for one construction or the other, and the failure mode of getting it wrong is a link that tests good and dies when the cable moves. Four of the seven listings on this shelf state the answer in words. This is one of the three that do not.

The bag around each plug

Every plug arrives with a metal strain relief, an insertion guide and a boot, each in its own polythene bag. That is three parts per plug where most of this shelf supplies one or two, and the metal strain relief is unique here — everywhere else the strain relief is moulded plastic or is not mentioned. On a fixed run where the cable is under tension against a wall entry, that is the part that earns its place.

Before ordering

Match the gauge first: this plug accepts up to AWG23 and no lower limit is published, so a thin cord is an open question and a thick installation run is not. Then ask the seller whether the contacts are for solid or for stranded conductors, since the page never says, and the answer decides whether these belong on a fixed run only or on made-up leads as well.

Availability

Priced from 30 € to 42 € across the German and Italian Amazon stores the day this page was checked.

In the French Amazon catalogue with no live offer against it: the reference exists, nobody is filling it.

The American, British and Spanish Amazon stores returned nothing at all, so the buy button there opens a search in that country rather than a page that would not load.

Every figure in this section is what Keepa held on the day this page was last updated. Stock and prices move without warning.

Prices quoted in this text were read on 10 September 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.

More RJ45 connectors

  • BIGtec Hirose TM31 shielded RJ45 plug in grey with insertion guide and boot

    BIGtec Hirose TM31 plug, Cat 6a to 500 MHz, AWG 24-27, cable 6.6 mm, pack of 100

    The only plug on this shelf identified by its own manufacturer and part reference rather than by a house name, published at a single sheath diameter of 6.6 mm and stated outright as not for flat ribbon cable.

    Category rating
    Cat 6a to 500 MHz — stated in the second bullet, with Cat 6, 6a and 7 cable named in the title. ISO/IEC 11801 is named in the third bullet, together with PoE conformity to 802.3af and use in 10 Gigabit networks
    Solid or stranded compatibility
    Not published on the listing — the gauge window is written as AWG 24-27 without the conductor-count suffix that would carry the answer, and neither construction is named in the five bullets
    Shielded or unshielded
    Shielded — stated in the third bullet, with gold-plated contacts named alongside
    Accepted conductor diameter
    AWG 24-27 — stated in the title and again in the second bullet. No millimetre figure is given for the conductor
    Accepted cable diameter
    6.6 mm — stated in the second bullet as a single figure rather than a range. It is the only outside diameter on this shelf quoted without a tolerance either side of it
    Load bar presence
    Supplied — the first bullet lists an insertion guide with the plug and the boot, as the three things in the packet
    Pass-through or standard body
    Standard — the plug is identified as a Hirose TM31 and nothing on the page describes conductors emerging at the front or being trimmed flush
    Pack quantity
    One hundred — stated in the title
    Amazon reference
    B01LYUHUOK (same reference on 2 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    4051687021129
    • The plug is identified by its own maker and part reference, which nothing else here does
    • States what it will not take — flat ribbon cable — rather than leaving the shape unmentioned
    • Solid or stranded is not stated, and the gauge notation carries no suffix to imply it

    Best for: Round screened cable of a known diameter, where the plug reference itself is what has to be matched to an existing installation.

    ≈ 92 €
    Check price on Amazon
  • Cable Matters Cat 6 pass-through RJ45 plugs in a screw-top storage tub

    Cable Matters Cat 6 pass-through plug, 23-26 AWG, conductors 0.97-1.07 mm, cable to 5.8 mm, pack of 100

    The only plug on this shelf that publishes both a conductor diameter and an outside diameter in millimetres, and the only one that says outright it is for unshielded cable — with a title and a bullet that disagree about stranded.

    Category rating
    Cat 6 — stated in the title and the first bullet, rated in the third for a gigabit Ethernet channel and described as backwards compatible with Cat 5e
    Solid or stranded compatibility
    Both, in the bullets — the second states that the plug terminates solid or stranded cable with a three-point contact. The title says it is for solid wire, so the page carries two answers; the wider one is the maker’s own and is reported here with the difference noted
    Shielded or unshielded
    Unshielded — stated in the first bullet, which says the plug terminates unshielded twisted-pair cable. It is the only plug on this shelf to state a screening answer of either kind rather than claiming a screen
    Accepted conductor diameter
    0.97 to 1.07 mm over the insulation, 23 to 26 AWG — both stated in the first bullet. It is one of only two plugs here to publish a millimetre figure for the conductor
    Accepted cable diameter
    Up to 5.8 mm outside diameter — stated in the first bullet. It is the tightest of the three outside limits published on this shelf
    Load bar presence
    Not published on the listing — the second bullet describes feeding the wires through openings in the pass-through body instead, which is the function a load bar performs on a standard plug
    Pass-through or standard body
    Pass-through — stated in the title and in the first two bullets, with the conductors fed through the front and the plug crimped afterwards
    Pack quantity
    One hundred — stated in the title and the fourth bullet, supplied in a screw-top storage tub with a moulded handle
    Amazon reference
    B07PXMN2VK (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    0818707025734
    • Both diameters are published in millimetres, which no other plug on this shelf manages
    • States that it is for unshielded cable instead of leaving the screening question open
    • The title says solid wire and the second bullet says solid or stranded, which is a page arguing with itself

    Best for: A large run of leads made from unshielded Cat 6 stock, by someone who already owns a tool that trims pass-through plugs.

    ≈ $18 / £11 / 16 €
    Check price on Amazon
  • deleyCON shielded Cat 6a RJ45 plug with strain-relief boot, one of four

    deleyCON Cat 6a IDC plug, solid conductors AWG 22-25, pack of 4

    A plug that needs no crimping tool at all, closed onto an insulation-displacement strip by hand — and one that publishes its conductor window as solid core only, which rules out every stranded patch lead.

    Category rating
    Cat 6a — stated in the title, with transmission to 10 Gbit/s and 500 MHz in the fifth bullet. Two standards are named in the first bullet, ISO/IEC 11801 and TIA568-C2
    Solid or stranded compatibility
    Solid only — stated in the second bullet as solid or full conductor at AWG 22 to 25, for rigid installation cable. Stranded conductors are never offered, and the fourth bullet lists only installation cable among the categories it suits
    Shielded or unshielded
    Shielded — stated in the title and in the first bullet. Nothing describes how the body bonds to the cable screen
    Accepted conductor diameter
    AWG 22 to 25 — stated in the second bullet as the conductor window. No figure in millimetres appears beside it, so a cable that publishes only a diameter has to be converted before it can be checked
    Accepted cable diameter
    Not published on the listing — the outside diameter of the sheath is never given, on a plug whose body has to close around it. A strain-relief boot is named instead
    Load bar presence
    Not published on the listing — the third bullet describes snap-in technology in which the conductors are pressed onto the insulation-displacement strip as the plug is closed. No separate lacing insert is named
    Pass-through or standard body
    Neither — this is a field-terminated insulation-displacement plug, stated in the first bullet as needing no crimping tool. Nothing describes conductors emerging at the front, and nothing describes a crimp
    Pack quantity
    Four — stated in the title
    Amazon reference
    B089T6TPSC (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    4250580147961
    • Terminated with no crimping tool, which removes the one purchase that stops most people making a lead
    • Names two standards rather than a category on its own
    • Solid conductors only, so it will not finish a stranded patch lead

    Best for: A repair or an extension on a fixed run of solid installation cable, made by hand at the point where the cable comes out of the wall.

    ≈ 12 €
    Check price on Amazon

Others worth having spare

  • DIGITUS bidirectional gigabit SFP module with a single LC optical port

    DIGITUS DN-81003, bidirectional single-mode SFP, Tx 1310 / Rx 1550 nm, 20 km stated

    A single-strand module that sends on one wavelength and listens on another, sold with the longest list of switch makers on this shelf and without the reversed counterpart that a link of this kind cannot work without.

    Module form factor
    SFP, called a mini GBIC in the title — the gigabit cage. The second bullet gives the operating mode as single-mode, LC simplex, bidirectional
    Module rate
    Up to 1.25 Gbit/s — stated in the title and in the fourth bullet, and repeated in the seventh as a maximum data rate of 1.25 Gbps. The eighth bullet names IEEE 802.3z as the gigabit standard it meets
    Optical or copper medium
    Optical — the sixth bullet calls it a plug and play fibre connection, and the second names a single-mode simplex LC port
    Fibre type
    Single-mode — stated in the title and in the second bullet. The grade is not published on the listing: no OS1 or OS2 designation appears, and the maker gives a pair of wavelengths and a distance instead
    Stated reach
    Up to 20 km — stated in the title and in the fourth bullet, which prints the rate and the distance in the same line
    Connector type
    LC simplex — a single position rather than a duplex pair, stated in the title and in the second bullet, because both directions travel on the same strand of glass
    Wavelength
    Tx 1310 nm and Rx 1550 nm — stated in the title and in the third bullet. A module with those two reversed has to sit at the far end, and the listing does not say whether one is supplied, sold beside it or left to the buyer to find
    Vendor coding stated
    Twenty-two makers are listed in the first bullet — Ubiquiti, Allied Telesis, Allnet, CISCO, D-Link, Edimax, Intellinet, KTI Networks, Level One, PLANET, Tenda, TP-Link, TRENDnet, ZyXEL, ZTE, Avaya, Mikrotik, ENTERASYS, FINISAR, FORCE 10, RIVERSTONE and Fortinet. No coding scheme and no part number is named against any of them
    Operating temperature range
    0 °C to +70 °C — stated in the fifth bullet as the operating temperature range
    Amazon reference
    B00609EB0K (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    4016032305682
    • One strand carries both directions, which halves the glass a link consumes
    • Twenty-two switch makers are named, the longest such list on this shelf
    • A bidirectional module is useless on its own, and nothing here says a counterpart comes with it

    Best for: A 20 km single-strand run between two buildings where fibre is scarce, bought together with the reversed counterpart it needs at the other end.

    ≈ 13 €
    Check price on Amazon
  • 10Gtek 10GBASE-T copper SFP+ module with an RJ45 socket and a metal shell

    10Gtek 10GBASE-T copper SFP+, 30 m stated, Marvell AQR113C named, 2.5 W draw

    The copper module that tells you what it costs in watts and where it gets too warm, and then prints ten maker names it will not work with — the only listing on this shelf that spends a bullet on its own limits.

    Module form factor
    SFP+ — stated in the title, and the first bullet asks that the transceiver be used in a 10G SFP+ port rather than a gigabit one
    Module rate
    10 Gb/s — stated in the first bullet as the data rate, and carried by the 10GBase-T designation in the title
    Optical or copper medium
    Copper — stated in the title, which calls it a copper transceiver with an RJ45 socket
    Fibre type
    Not published on the listing, and a copper module has no fibre to qualify. The second bullet names the cable instead: CAT.6a or CAT7 RJ45 cable, quoted in the same line as the reach
    Stated reach
    Up to 30 m — stated in the title and in the second bullet, in both cases against the Cat 6a or Cat 7 cable named beside it
    Connector type
    RJ45 — stated in the title as the socket the module presents
    Wavelength
    Not published on the listing, and copper carries none. The fifth bullet names the Marvell AQR113C PHY controller in its place and calls it the latest of its kind
    Vendor coding stated
    Compatibility is claimed for Cisco, Meraki, Ubiquiti except the US-48-500W, Mikrotik, Netgear, Zyxel, QNAP NAS, Synology, D-Link, TP-Link, Supermicro and other open switches. The fourth bullet then names ten makers it is not compatible with: HP-ProCurve, HP-H3C, HP-Aruba, Intel, Arista, Mellanox, Dell Force10, Extreme, Brocade and Juniper
    Operating temperature range
    Not published on the listing as a range — the fifth bullet states instead that the module can become hot in use because the integrated circuit draws 2.5 W, and recommends using it where the ambient temperature stays below 50 °C
    Amazon reference
    B01M8O3MAL (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    0603149410633
    • The only listing here that publishes what the module draws, and says what that means in practice
    • Ten makers are named as incompatible, which is worth more than any list of the compatible ones
    • The thermal statement is an ambient recommendation, not the working range a datasheet would carry

    Best for: A ten-gigabit copper link in a cabinet with air actually moving through it, into a switch outside the ten makers this listing rules out.

    ≈ £31 / 36 €
    Check price on Amazon
  • Elfcam pair of bidirectional 10G SFP+ transceivers with single SC optical ports

    Elfcam matched pair of bidirectional 10G SFP+, SC simplex, OS2, 20 km stated

    The dearest listing on this shelf and the only one that ships a complete link: two bidirectional modules with their wavelengths already reversed, on SC connectors where everything else here uses LC or RJ45.

    Module form factor
    SFP+ — stated in the title, supplied as one pair of two modules rather than as a single transceiver
    Module rate
    10 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps and 1.25 Gbps — three rates stated in the second bullet, with 10 Gb, 2,5 Gb and 1,25 Gb also named in the title
    Optical or copper medium
    Optical — the first and second bullets name a single-mode simplex SC fibre port of 9/125 µm
    Fibre type
    Single-mode, 9/125 µm — stated in the title and again in the first, second and fourth bullets. The grade is given as OS2 in the title and in the first and fourth bullets, which makes this one of only two optical modules on this shelf to name a grade at all
    Stated reach
    Up to 20 km — given in the first bullet as 20 KM and in the fourth as a transmission distance of up to 20 km with a single-mode simplex 9/125 µm OS2 SC cable
    Connector type
    SC simplex — stated in the title and in the first bullet. It is the only SC module on this shelf; the other six take LC or RJ45
    Wavelength
    TX 1270 nm with RX 1330 nm on one module and TX 1330 nm with RX 1270 nm on the other — stated in the first and second bullets. That reversal is what makes the pair a pair, and it is the reason the two modules are not interchangeable with each other
    Vendor coding stated
    Coded for Cisco SFP-10G-BXD-I and SFP-10G-BXU-I — the downstream and upstream halves named separately — with Ubiquiti Networks UF-SM-10G-S, Huawei, D-Link, Ruijie and open switches added in the third bullet, which prints Huawei twice
    Operating temperature range
    Not published on the listing — no range appears in any bullet. The fifth offers a warranty and a repair service centre in Paris in its place, and the sentence that should give the warranty length has no number in it: it reads as a warranty period of years, with the figure missing
    Amazon reference
    B0DBLFC335 (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    3701528726041
    • Two modules with the wavelengths already reversed, so a single-strand link is complete in one order
    • Names both halves of the Cisco bidirectional pair, downstream and upstream, by part number
    • The warranty sentence has a blank where its number should be

    Best for: A 20 km single-strand run on SC-terminated single-mode fibre, bought once with both ends of the link in the same box.

    ≈ $66 / £60 / 60 €
    Check price on Amazon

All RJ45 connectors