Some people got theirs in 2-3 days, mine took 6 days. I am in the western U.S.

Dec 1st should be totally fine, but it would not hurt to order sooner if your sister wouldn’t mind the package sitting around for a few weeks.

Shipping carrier delays often happen in December, so account for that too.

Other commenters are assuming you want a rockin network and your replies suggest that your just need something simple.

Yes, for a small apartment and just a few devices, this will work just fine.

Interesting. From my work in head ends at ISP’s, a government IT department, and an MSP; the preference was always to terminate to RJ-45 and use F2F couplers in patch panels. We just used high-quality terms and couplers.

Since the handling is just as infrequent as when punched down, the risk of failure is equally minimal. But flexibility for future use, testing, and maintenance is increased.

I am curious why not?

Inevitably, homelab setups will change and with that, ends/jacks will be too. Instead of having to re-punch and lose cable length, having a terminated end allows for minimal, if any, change to the actual cable or its length.

What is the downside of terminating the ends with an rj-45 connector?

Always terminate ends on. Then use female-to-female keystone couplers in a patch panel.