Cat5e and Cat6 – The differences.

Posted by trapsolutions.com on September 21, 2009 under Ethernet | Read the First Comment

Cat5e and Cat6 have been around for a while now but the major differences between these two still confuses a few of us today. Both Cat5e and Cat6 are capable of gigabit Ethernet. The main difference between Cat5e and Cat6 is in the transmission performance (available bandwidth 100 MHz for Cat5e to 250 MHz for Cat6). Cat6 provides a higher signal-to-noise ratio making it a slightly better cable than the Cat5e as it allows for fewer errors and re-sends of data packets.

Installing Cat6 Cabling alone will not give you a gigabit network (10/100/Mbps) every single component on the Network has got to be gigabit rated i.e. Gigabit Swithes, Gigabit Routers, Cat6 Patch Panels, Cat6 Outlets, Cat6 Modules etc.. or the Network will run at the speed of of the lowest device e.g If you have Cat6 Cabling plugged into a 10/100Mbps switch your network will only run at 10/100Mbps and will not achieve the gigabit speeds. However it is more cost effective to run Cat5e Cabling on such a network though Cat6 is still compatible. Cat5e can handle data transfer of up to 1000 Mbps and Cat6 is built for and certified for Gigabit and is the more advanced and provides the best performance.

Though Cat6 capabilities far exceeds those of Cat5e they are both made up of four twisted pairs of copper wire. The only difference here is Cat6 is constructed with a  longitudinal separator that isolates each of the four pairs of twisted wire from the others, reducing crosstalk, allowing  for faster data transfer, and giving Cat6 cable twice the bandwidth of Cat5e. Cat6 Cable is constructed with a longitudinal separator therefore the Cat5e connectors are different to those of Cat6 so are the crimping tools used to crimp the cable.

It only makes sense to in install Cat6 as a future proof measure or when replacing a 10/100mbps network.