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Differences Between CAT5, CAT5E, CAT6 and CAT6e Cables

Category 5 cables transmit at 100MHz and support speeds up to 100Mbps over 100 meters, while Category 5e improves on this with support for speeds up to 350Mbps over 100 meters. Category 6 is required for Gigabit Ethernet at 1000Mbps over 100 meters. Category 6e doubles the transmission frequency to 500MHz and allows for 10Gbps speeds over 100 meters through enhanced shielding.

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128 views

Differences Between CAT5, CAT5E, CAT6 and CAT6e Cables

Category 5 cables transmit at 100MHz and support speeds up to 100Mbps over 100 meters, while Category 5e improves on this with support for speeds up to 350Mbps over 100 meters. Category 6 is required for Gigabit Ethernet at 1000Mbps over 100 meters. Category 6e doubles the transmission frequency to 500MHz and allows for 10Gbps speeds over 100 meters through enhanced shielding.

Uploaded by

Maoga2013
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Differences Between CAT5, CAT5E, CAT6

and CAT6e Cables

Category 5
Category 5 transmits at 100MHz frequencies, providing a rated line speed of up to 100Mbit/s
and a max cable segment length of 100 meters. Most Category 5 cables, designed for early
networks, only used two twisted pairs. Older Category 5 cables continue to make up the bulk
of the worlds network infrastructure.
Category 5e
An improved specification to Category 5 was later introduced. By reducing noise and signal
interference, Category 5e was capable of increasing rated transfer speeds to 350 Mbit/s over
100 meters. The new standard also required all cables to include four twisted pairs (all eight
contacts). An optimized encoding scheme allows up to 50-meter lengths of Category 5e cable
to perform at, or near, Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T) speeds.
Category 6
The mainstream adoption of Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T) required new industry-standard
cables capable of transmitting at a higher frequency of 250 MHz. Category 6 cable uses
thicker-gauge wire, increased shielding, and more pair twists per inch to reduce signal noise
and interference. The tighter specifications guarantee that 100-meter runs of Category 6 are
capable of 1000 Mbit/s transfer speeds. 10-Gigabit Ethernet speeds are achievable when
reducing cable lengths to less than 50 meters.
Category 6e
Category 6 Enhanced (6e) is an augmented specification designed to double transmission
frequency to 500 MHz. By wrapping Category 6e in grounded foil shielding, full 10-Gigabit
Ethernet speeds can be reached without sacrificing the max cable length of 100 meters.

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