Cat 5 and Cat 6

[DNA]

So what is the difference in the Cat 5 and Cat 6...Cat 6 from what I can tell is better because of a higher standard. Will it make a difference in connections or not?

[Brillow_Head]

I think it also has a higher bandwidth from 1 to 250 MHz where Cat 5 runs 1 to 100 Mhz

[appalachian_fox]

The bottom line is bandwidth rating, but that's not the whole picture. The categories have been set by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) as a way to rate cables for different tasks. Category 5 cable is rated for signalling up to 100 MHz and Category 6 I do believe has been set at 250 MHz (as well as many other things). Basically, this tells you the signaling rate that a cable is certified to carry based on certain benchmarks.

 

In the home, it doesn't really make a difference. Fast Ethernet (100 Base-TX) runs at 100 MHz, and Gigabit Ethernet at 125 MHz. Remember that Cat5 is rated to 100 MHz, but that's given certain characteristics. In a low-noise environment (like most people's houses, even those with lots of consumer electronics) Cat 5 or Cat 5e performs at gigabit just fine. The last place we worked, in fact, had Cat 5 structured cabling throughout the office, and it took to Gigabit Ethernet without any changes and no abnormal packet loss. I wouldn't recommend that for commercial installations, I only mention that to show that Cat 5 from a reputable vendor is, in general, sufficient for pretty much anything you can put over copper through an RJ-45 these days.

[Lunk]

The main differences are:

 

The amount of twist per pair per inch or foot

 

Cat6 also has a strengthener/seperator core between each pair to strengthen the cable and to help eliminate cross-talk.

 

Cat6 is also a PITA to work with compared to Cat5 or Cat5e because of the above mentioned strengthener.

[appalachian_fox]

The main differences are:

 

The amount of twist per pair per inch or foot

 

Cat6 also has a strengthener/seperator core between each pair to strengthen the cable and to help eliminate cross-talk.

 

Cat6 is also a PITA to work with compared to Cat5 or Cat5e because of the above mentioned strengthener.

 

I hear they approved a new terminal block configuration, too, which works with an RJ-45 jack but staggers the wire ends to prevent crosstalk: Do they require different tools to install? I've never worked with Cat 6 structured cabling and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.