Quick answer: At one hundred feet the conductor type matters more than the category printed on the box. Stranded copper flexes and survives being coiled, but it is harder to terminate and loses slightly more signal per foot. Solid copper is stiffer, terminates cleanly in a punch down jack, and holds its geometry for years. Match the plug to the wire: crimp plugs for stranded, keystones for solid.
A hundred foot cable is where the market splits in two. One buyer wants a long patch cord that travels in a bag and gets plugged in twice a day. Another is wiring a wall and will never touch the cable again. Both can type the same search and land on the same product page, yet the right answer for each is a different conductor, a different plug and a different termination method.
Stranded copper: flexible but fussy to terminate
Stranded wire is built from many fine strands twisted together. That construction is why the cable survives repeated bending, and it is also why the end of the cable is the weak point. When a crimp tool closes on stranded wire, the strands can shift, and a plug that looks seated may only be touching a few of them.
Where stranded is the right call
Any cable that moves belongs in this group: a laptop connection at a hot desk, a patch lead for a service laptop, a run that gets unplugged for events. In those places a solid conductor will work-harden and break inside the jacket after enough flex cycles.
Why crimping stranded wire goes wrong
Two failures dominate. The first is an incomplete insertion, where the wire stops short of the contact and the crimp bites jacket instead of copper. The second is a plug rated for solid wire being used anyway. The contact geometry differs, and no amount of squeezing fixes that.
Solid copper: stiff, stable, permanent
A solid conductor holds one shape. It does not shift under a crimp, it punches down predictably, and its electrical behaviour stays close to the datasheet for the life of the building. The trade is flexibility: bend a solid core sharply a few times and it cracks.
Punch down terminations and solid wire
Keystones and patch panels are designed around solid wire. The punch tool seats the conductor into an insulation displacement slot, and the plastic body holds the pair in place. That joint is gas tight when it is made properly, which is why it lasts decades behind a wall plate.
Choosing between them
The comparison below is the one that settles most purchase decisions at this length.
| Property | Stranded | Solid | Decision cue |
|---|
| Flex life | High, survives coiling | Low, cracks if worked | Will the cable ever move |
| Termination | Crimp plug rated for stranded | Punch down or crimp for solid | What tool do you own |
| Signal over 100 ft | Slightly higher loss | Lower loss per foot | Is the run near the limit |
| Best location | Patch and travel | Wall, ceiling, conduit | Fixed or portable |
If the answer to the first row is never, the second row settles everything else. A cable that will not move should be solid, terminated once, and then forgotten. A cable that moves every week is better bought as a factory made stranded assembly than crimped at home on a Friday afternoon.
Practical scenarios
- New office wall outlet: solid cable from the ceiling to the plate, punched on a keystone, then a short stranded patch to the desk.
- Conference room table: the lead is dragged and coiled daily, so a stranded assembly with molded strain relief is the durable choice.
- Workshop bench: cables run past tools and get snagged. Solid core in conduit, with the service loop fixed to the bench frame.
- Trade show kit: a hundred foot stranded reel that ships in a case beats a solid cable that arrives kinked and creased.
FAQ
Can I crimp a plug onto solid cable?
Only with a plug made for solid conductors. Standard stranded plugs use contacts that do not grip a single stiff core well, and the result tests fine on the bench then fails once the cable hangs from the plug.
Is stranded cable slower at this length?
The difference is small and rarely visible in everyday traffic. It becomes relevant when the run is already close to the channel limit or when the cable also carries power to a device.
How do I tell the two apart before buying?
Look at the conductor description, not the photos. Listings that mention stranded or solid in the specification block are usually accurate; listings that only show a colored jacket are telling you nothing.
Next step
Match the cable to the way it will be installed. The shielded Ethernet cable guide covers jacket and drain choices, the Cat 6 and Cat 6A comparison explains what the extra category buys, and the patch cable selection guide helps you size the short leads at each end.
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