Like it or not, I won't leave a top-notch cable in my house. I mainly make patch cords for desktops, routers/switches, a few NAS devices and so on. I won't spend two or three times as much for a fancy cable. This cable is fairly well balanced. The overall construction isn't very strong, but at the same time this is perhaps the only cable I've used at home where the wire stripper built into my crimping tool didn't cut through the twisted pairs either. light enough, and while I'm not a metallurgist, I'm willing to believe they're mostly copper. Including them in my CAT5 connectors was only notable because the wires weren't so thin that I worried about contact, or too big to disconnect. For testing I also made some CAT3 phone cords and they were crimped well. Overall, this is a great cable for home or small office use in places where you don't need shielding or sacraments. You don't have to use the plenum. You won't find a better cable for the price.