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Cat6 Cables

Cat6 cables provide lower crosstalk and higher signal-to-noise ratio, allowing them to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet, while Cat5e only supports up to 1 Gigabit Ethernet. As a future-proofing measure, Cat6 is generally a better choice than Cat5e due to its small premium in price and ability to support higher speeds. Both cable types are backwards compatible and can be used with older network equipment. Cat6 cables use thicker copper wiring and can transmit signals up to 250 MHz, providing performance for speeds up to 10 Gbps over shorter cable lengths compared to Cat5e's 100 MHz bandwidth and maximum 1 Gbps speeds.

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29 views

Cat6 Cables

Cat6 cables provide lower crosstalk and higher signal-to-noise ratio, allowing them to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet, while Cat5e only supports up to 1 Gigabit Ethernet. As a future-proofing measure, Cat6 is generally a better choice than Cat5e due to its small premium in price and ability to support higher speeds. Both cable types are backwards compatible and can be used with older network equipment. Cat6 cables use thicker copper wiring and can transmit signals up to 250 MHz, providing performance for speeds up to 10 Gbps over shorter cable lengths compared to Cat5e's 100 MHz bandwidth and maximum 1 Gbps speeds.

Uploaded by

Sonel Abramburitu
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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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Cat6 cables, also called Category 6 or Cat 6 cables, provide lower crosstalk, a higher signal-to-noise

ratio, and are suitable for 10GBASE-T (10-Gigabit Ethernet), while Cat5e cables support only up to
1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet). As a means of future-proofing your network, Cat6 is generally a better
choice and worth the small premium in price. Cat5e and Cat6 cables are both backwards compatible,
which means newer Cat6 cables can be used with older Cat5e, Cat5 and even Cat3 equipment.

Comparison chart
Cat5e
Cat6

10 Gbps over 33-55 meters (110-165 feet) of


Speed 1000Mbps
cable
Frequency Up to 100MHz Up to 250 MHz
Varies by length and Varies by length and manufacturer, with $0.40
Cost manufacturer, generally $0.20 - - $0.60 per foot as an average; generally about
$0.30 per foot. 20% higher than Cat5e.
Less crosstalk/interference than
Performance CAT5. Potentially more SNR higher
interference than CAT6.
100 meters for slower network speeds (up to
1,000 Mbps) and higher network speeds over
Maximum
100 meters short distances. For Gigabit Ethernet, 55
Cable Length
meters max, with 33 meters in high crosstalk
conditions.
Standard
gauges in 24-26 AWG wire 22-24 AWG wire
conductors

Wiring
Both Cat5e and Cat6 are twisted pair cables that use copper wires, typically 4 twisted pairs in
each cable. The specification for Cat6 features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and
system noise, and provides performance of up to 250 MHz. Cat5e, in contrast, performs up to
100 MHz. This was often achieved using a spline (a longitudinal separator) in the wiring, which
isolates each of the four pairs of twisted wire. However, this made Cat6 cables more rigid; newer
cables use other methods to reduce noise and are more flexible. Regardless of whether a spline is
used, a cable that meets Cat6 specifications provides significantly lower interference or near end
crosstalk (NEXT) in the transmission. It also improves equal level far end crosstalk (ELFEXT),
return loss and insertion loss compared with Cat5e. The result is less noise, fewer errors and
higher data rates in the transmission of the signal.

How to identify

The category is almost always printed on ethernet cables. It is not possible to identify cable
categories by color, but Cat6 cables are often thicker than Cat5e because it uses thicker copper
wires.

Maximum Length
Both Cat5e and Cat6 cable specifications allow lengths up to 100 meters, but Cat6e has a lower
max length (55 meters) when used for 10GBASE-T (10 Gigabit Ethernet). In order to run
10GBASE-T for 100 meters, Category 6a cable, or Augmented Category 6, cables need to be
used. Cat6a cables allow performance up to 500 MHz.

If network infrastructure requires covering distances larger than 100 meters, repeaters or
switches are required to amplify the signal.

Speed
As mentioned previously, Cat6 cables can be used to power 10GBASE-T, or 10 Gigabit
Ethernet, while the maximum that Cat5e cables can support is 1GBASE-T, or 1 Gigabit Ethernet.
This is because Cat6 cables perform up to 250 MHz, more than twice that of Cat5e cables (100
MHz).

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