Category 6 Ethernet Cable Speed

Cat6 cable is otherwise called category 6 ethernet cable.

Category 6 ethernet cable speed.

That speed comes with a price however as cat 6 cables are more expensive than cat 5 and cat 5e variants. Category 6 cable cat 6 is a standardized twisted pair cable for ethernet and other network physical layers that is backward compatible with the category 5 5e and category 3 cable standards. For example you ll see cables rated as category 5 category 5e category 6 category 7 and so on. In the picture above the cat 5e cable is the only one with a spline.

Normally it supports a maximum transmission speed up to 1 gbps within 100m. Many cat 6 cables also include a nylon spline which helps eliminate crosstalk. It s theoretical top speed is 10 gbps over 100 meters. Cat 6 has to meet more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise than cat 5 and cat 5e.

The category 6 augmented cable standard or cat 6a was created to further improve the performance of cat 6 ethernet cables using cat 6a enables 10 gigabit ethernet data rates over a single cable run up to 328 feet. And yes these cables are backwards compatible. As a means of future proofing your network cat6 is generally a better choice and worth the small premium in price. It consists of four pairs of copper wire which supports up to 10 gbps of ethernet connection.

Ethernet cables are standardized into different categories. In cat 6 cable the spline is not required either as long as the cable tests according to the standard. The cost is about 20 35 higher than cat6 but the maximum cable length is 100 meters across all systems and conditions for gigabit ethernet. Cat5e and cat6 cables are both backwards.

Cat 6a the a in cat 6a stands for augmented. We usually shorten these names to cat 5 cat 5e cat 6 and so on. While cat6 cable supports 37 55 meters depending on crosstalk when transmitting at a speed of 10 gbps. When it comes to cat5 and cat6 ethernet cables there s no right or wrong choice.

Each cable with a higher number is a newer standard. Cat 6 supports 10 gigabit ethernet only up to 164 feet of cable length. Cat 6 ethernet cable 100 ft flat white slim long internet network lan patch cords solid cat6 high speed computer wire with clips rj45 connectors for router modem faster than cat5e cat5 100 feet. 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.

The cable standard specifies performance of up to 250 mhz compared to 100 mhz for cat 5 and cat 5e.