Difference Between Cat 6 And Cat 5e Ethernet Cable

Cat 5e vs cat 6.

Difference between cat 6 and cat 5e ethernet cable.

Ethernet cables like the cat5 and cat5e use twisted pair wiring to decrease electromagnetic interference and crosstalk between the wires themselves. Although the spline is not required in cat 5 cable some manufacturers include it anyway so cat5 or cat6. When it comes to cat5 and cat6 ethernet cables there s no right or wrong choice. Cat 5e is currently the most commonly used cable mainly due to its low production cost and support for speeds faster than cat 5 cables.

Cat 5e is an enhanced version of cat5 that adds specifications for crosstalk see below. Cat5e cables have more stringent requirements than the cat5 when it comes to the tightness of the wire twisting. Both the cable utilizes for the same end port piece that commonly known as rj 45. 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.

Technically both ethernet cable cat 5e and cat 6 twisted with a different colour of pair cables that used to copper. As we know ethernet cable can be divided into many types such as cat5 cat5e cat6 cat6a cat7 cat8 etc. As a means of future proofing your network cat6 is generally a better choice and worth the small premium in price. The main difference between the cat5 and cat5e wiring comes down to specification.

However not everyone knows the exact difference between them on the comparison of cat6 vs cat7 cat7 vs cat8 etc. Cat 6 was developed with advancement in technology and the need to transfer more data at faster speeds. Cat 5e was already handling gigabit speed cat 6 was further improved to offer a bandwidth of 250 mhz. Therefore many people are at a loss on which ethernet cable they should adopt for their network.

The wires were thinner than before occupied less space and the insulation was improved as well. Cat5 vs cat5e. This is the slowest cable that anyone should use for a new ethernet. Cat5e and cat6 cables are both backwards.

Network support cat 5 cable will support 10base t and 100base t network standards that is it supports networks running at 10 mbps or 100 mbps. Many cat 6 cables also include a nylon spline which helps eliminate crosstalk says how to geek. In this picture the cat 5e cable has the thinnest sheath but it also was the only one with the nylon spline. Unshielded utp because all ethernet cables are twisted manufactures use shielding to further protect the cable from interference.

More tightly twisted wiring equals less. Cat5e can have speeds of 1000 mbps and is used in many residential and commercial wired applications for gigabit ethernet.