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What's the Difference between CAT5e and CAT6?

Uploaded2021/7/19 19:04:48     Hits    Source

Introduction

It is important to choose the right Ethernet cable for your home or business network. When choosing the right cable option, you need to understand the difference between category cables. Because the type and category of the cable will not only affect the speed and overall performance, but also have a huge impact on the quality of the connection. The two most popular Ethernet cables are Cat5e and Cat6, but which one is better?

What is CAT5e Cable?

CAT5e, also known as Category 5e or Category 5 Enhanced, is a network cable standard approved in 1999. Cat5e cable is an enhanced version of the traditional Cat5 cable, and it is also the oldest cable category. Cat5e cables are backward compatible with Cat5, which allows you to easily upgrade all or part of your network for superior performance. Generally,Cat5e cables consist of 24 twisted pair wires and provide Gigabit Ethernet up to 328 feet. The MHz rate of a Cat5e cable is 100, which means that the CPU can process up to 100 million commands in one second.

What is CAT6 Cable?

Cat6 cables, also known as Category 6 or Cat 6 cables only came out after CAT5e a few years later. It provides Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters long. CAT6 is a standardized twisted pair cable for Ethernet, which is backward compatible with CAT5/5e and CAT3 cable standards. Cat6 cables are the current standard for high-speed Ethernet cabling because they can support the speeds required for 10 Gigabit networks. However, they have limited support for higher standards, after which the limit speed distance of Cat6 cables is the same as Cat5e cables.

Bandwidth

Both CAT5e and CAT6 can handle speeds up to 1000 Mbps or gigabits per second. The main difference between CAT5e and CAT6 cables is bandwidth, and the cable can support data transmission. The CAT6 cable is designed for operating frequencies up to 250 MHz, while the CAT5e operating frequency is 100 MHz This means that CAT6 cables can process more data at the same time.

Speed

As mentioned earlier, the performance of CAT6 cables is up to 250 MHz, which is more than twice that of Cat5e cables (100 MHz). Therefore, Cat6 cables can be used to power 10GBASE-T or 10 Gigabit Ethernet, while Cat5e cables can only support a maximum of 1GBASE-T or 1 Gigabit Ethernet.

Maximum Length

Both Cat5e and Cat6 cable specifications allow a maximum length of 100 meters. When used for 10GBASE-T, the maximum length of CAT6 cable is reduced to 55 m. After this distance, the rate drops to 1GBASE-T. In order to run 10GBASE-T for 100 meters, a Category 6a cable or an enhanced Category 6 cable is required. If the network infrastructure needs to cover a distance of more than 100 meters, repeaters or switches are needed to amplify the signal.

Cost

Since multiple characteristics affect the cost of an Ethernet cable, the main factors are length, quality, copper content, and manufacturer. Generally speaking, Cat6 cables are 10-20% more expensive than Cat5e cables.

Conclusion

There are many considerations when choosing the right cable. What is the required network speed? What is the number of users? Whether it is used indoors or outdoors? Etc. The price difference between CAT5e and CAT6 is not too much. Whether you choose CAT5e or CAT6, it is usually a good idea to choose a better quality cable to prepare the network infrastructure and performance for the near future.


Baudcom offers all kinds of fiber optic cables. For more information, please visit Baudcom.


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