Effect of Cat5/5e Connectors

[qwazwak]

I understand that a network speed it determined by the lowest speed linkage in it, but if I have an entirely cat6 network with cat5 or cat5e connectors (just the plastic end connector bits for custom ethernet cable) will the network be able to run at full cat6 speeds or will the connectors limit it?

[RangerLunis]

Not much experience in this department, but I was looking for a very similar answer. Here is a question over on stack exchange which might give the answer you're looking for: http://superuser.com/questions/663732/can-i-use-cat5e-jacks-with-cat6-cable

[Xineas]

The Cat6 plugs are slightly different from Cat5 plugs. If you ran Cat6 cable, don't cheap out on the plugs. They're not that expensive. Get some shielded Cat6 plugs. Theoretically, it could impact the speed.

[qwazwak]

2 minutes ago, RangerLunis said:

Not much experience in this department, but I was looking for a very similar answer. Here is a question over on stack exchange which might give the answer you're looking for: http://superuser.com/questions/663732/can-i-use-cat5e-jacks-with-cat6-cable

I worry that people are just saying "lowest link speeeeeedddd" and not fully getting its only the plastic ending that's a different tiers. I really cannot believe that the connector, with barely any metal in it, could take it down to cat5

[qwazwak]

Just now, Xineas said:

The Cat6 plugs are slightly different from Cat5 plugs. If you ran Cat6 cable, don't cheap out on the plugs. They're not that expensive. Get some shielded Cat6 plugs.

Awesome, thank you. Would you happen to know how they are different?

[BabyPandaaa]

8 minutes ago, qwazwak said:

I understand that a network speed it determined by the lowest speed linkage in it, but if I have an entirely cat6 network with cat5 or cat5e connectors (just the plastic end connector bits for custom ethernet cable) will the network be able to run at full cat6 speeds or will the connectors limit it?

It's the cable that will make the difference generally.

 

In my experience I've regularly used Cat5E cables and gotten Gigabit speeds through the network. I've also made custom cables with both Cat5E and Cat6 and speedtested using a file transfer and got pretty much the same results. I've also used Cat6 patch cables on 10GBASE-T and gotten near-on that over a distance of about 10m.

 

The thing that will make the biggest difference is the quality of the cabling. Buy good quality cables or components to make them, and you shouldn't see any limitation.

[RangerLunis]

Just now, qwazwak said:

I worry that people are just saying "lowest link speeeeeedddd" and not fully getting its only the plastic ending that's a different tiers. I really cannot believe that the connector, with barely any metal in it, could take it down to cat5

Same here, I'm not yet very experienced in networking, but I'm guessing based on the internals of a Ethernet cable, if you were going to fit a cat 6 on a cat 5 jack you wouldn't be able to properly route some of the twisted pairs or something like that? Probably not making much sense there, but best wishes to you!

[qwazwak]

1 minute ago, RangerLunis said:

Same here, I'm not yet very experienced in networking, but I'm guessing based on the internals of a Ethernet cable, if you were going to fit a cat 6 on a cat 5 jack you wouldn't be able to properly route some of the twisted pairs or something like that? Probably not making much sense there, but best wishes to you!

Thanks! From what I'v found they have the same 'pinout', just different 'quality' specifications such as twisting, shielding, ect.

[RangerLunis]

Just now, qwazwak said:

Thanks! From what I'v found they have the same 'pinout', just different 'quality' specifications such as twisting, shielding, ect.

Ahhh. Thanks for asking all this though, i'm planning on setting up my own network soon and this'll help me a lot with it! Thanks bruh.

[BabyPandaaa]

1 minute ago, RangerLunis said:

Same here, I'm not yet very experienced in networking, but I'm guessing based on the internals of a Ethernet cable, if you were going to fit a cat 6 on a cat 5 jack you wouldn't be able to properly route some of the twisted pairs or something like that? Probably not making much sense there, but best wishes to you!

 

Haha it's okay you'll learn quickly!

 

The pairs are the same - 4 pairs of cables inside a sleeve. In Cat6 you have a plastic core which separates these 4 pairs (in the shape of a +), tighter-twisted pairs, and a slightly thicker jacket to reduce cross-talk. In some Cat6 cabling the internal copper cable pairs are slightly larger.

 

I've gotten Cat6 into Cat5E RJ45 connectors fine before, personally never seen a speed difference so just use whichever I have in the bag!

[qwazwak]

Just now, RangerLunis said:

Ahhh. Thanks for asking all this though, i'm planning on setting up my own network soon and this'll help me a lot with it! Thanks bruh.

You're welcome, and good luck!

[Xineas]

8 minutes ago, qwazwak said:

Awesome, thank you. Would you happen to know how they are different?

The difference is that while a connector for a CAT5 cable holds the individual wires in a straight line, an RJ-45 connector for a CAT6 cable staggers the wires to accommodate their thicker sizes. In practice though, attaching a connector to a CAT6 cable is almost identical to attaching a connector to a CAT5 cable. 

- Copy pasted that from online somewhere, below a picture to clarify:

 

[qwazwak]

Just now, Xineas said:

The difference is that while a connector for a CAT5 cable holds the individual wires in a straight line, an RJ-45 connector for a CAT6 cable staggers the wires to accommodate their thicker sizes. In practice though, attaching a connector to a CAT6 cable is almost identical to attaching a connector to a CAT5 cable. 

Is there any difficulty putting cat6 cables in cat5 connectors, or the other way around, due to the different sizing?

[mariushm]

It won't matter, unless you're aiming for 10gbps network cards.

 

1gbps speeds can be achieved even with regular Cat5 network cable.  Cat5e cable is all around "safer" and also can achieve 1gbps with no problems at all. Going to Cat6 or Cat6a cables won't change anything.

Whether you use cat6 jacks on cat5e cable, or cat5 jacks on cat6 cables, you're still going to get 1 gbps speeds perfectly fine, if your network cards are 1gbps max.

 

If you're thinking of 10gbps network cards in the future, you'll need better than cat5e. Cat6 cable can be used if the length of the cable is under 100 feet (around 30 meters) and the cable is not grouped together with more than few other cables, but it's safer to just go with cat6a and cat6 connectors if you want 10gbps speeds (and distances up to 105 meters and no bundling restrictions)

 

So again, if your network is maximum 1 gbps and your cards are maximum 1 gbps, it really won't make any different what cable and what connectors you are using. Even the classic cat5e is higher quality than the minimum required for reliable 1 gbps.

 

PS. To achieve the 10gbps transfer speed without packet loss and corruption up to 105 meters, the cable has to be slightly better built, the 4 pairs of wires in a cat6a cable are individually insulated from the other pairs to prevent crosstalk and the number of twists per inch is slightly higher on cat6 / cat6a ... all these make the cable more expensive.

 

In addition, while with cat5e and 1gbps speeds it's considered safe to have up to 1-2cm (1") or so of untwisted wires near the connectors (or at the back of a patch panel), cat6 and cat6a are more "sensitive" about this distance, the aim is to be smaller distance. That's why cat6 and cat6a connectors are slightly different, they make an effort to reduce that distance (less distance from where you untwist pairs to where wires are under those metal contacts).

[Xineas]

2 minutes ago, qwazwak said:

Is there any difficulty putting cat6 cables in cat5 connectors, or the other way around, due to the different sizing?

Cat6 wires are tougher and a little bit thicker, but you'll get it in there either way.

[qwazwak]

3 minutes ago, mariushm said:

It won't matter, unless you're aiming for 10gbps network cards.

 

1gbps speeds can be achieved even with regular Cat5 network cable.  Cat5e cable is all around "safer" and also can achieve 1gbps with no problems at all. Going to Cat6 or Cat6a cables won't change anything.

Whether you use cat6 jacks on cat5e cable, or cat5 jacks on cat6 cables, you're still going to get 1 gbps speeds perfectly fine, if your network cards are 1gbps max.

 

If you're thinking of 10gbps network cards in the future, you'll need better than cat5e. Cat6 cable can be used if the length of the cable is under 100 feet (around 30 meters) and the cable is not grouped together with more than few other cables, but it's safer to just go with cat6a and cat6 connectors if you want 10gbps speeds (and distances up to 105 meters and no bundling restrictions)

 

So again, if your network is maximum 1 gbps and your cards are maximum 1 gbps, it really won't make any different what cable and what connectors you are using. Even the classic cat5e is higher quality than the minimum required for reliable 1 gbps.

From what I'v found cat5 actually really only does 100mb, and cat6 is a bit more reliable than cat5e. But if you have an account here you probably don't just go 'good enough'  Also trying to keep the network somewhat future-resistant and reliable

[mariushm]

 

Officially, Cat5 is only for 100 mbps but the official documents for the 100mbps standard and 1gbps standards were written ages ago, like 10-20 years ago when 1 gbps network cards were new, rare and expensive things on the market.

Since then it's been years of advancements in chip manufacturing (like going from pentium mmx to pentium4) and the network chips themselves have much better error correction algorithms and better signal amplifiers inside them.

When the standards were made, cat5e really was required for 1gbps due to its higher bandwidth and overall better physical construction. Also remember that standards have to keep in mind the maximum distances in the standards, which are 105 meters.

But what I'm trying to say that chips used on network cards have advanced so much that especially with short distances commonly in home networks (where you have at best 10-20 meters between computers) you really won't have problems reaching 1 gbps speeds even with plain CAT5 , which you may not even find in stores.

You can't compare a network card made 5+ years ago that used a chip made on 130nm process, with most of the processing in software (driver) with a modern network card made on 65nm or even 40nm process with hardware offloading and other good stuff - modern network cards exceed the minimums required by standards.

 

Cat5e has more bandwidth than required for 1gbps speeds. Cat6 would be more reliable only because with cat5e it's easy to make or buy cable of varying degrees of quality. With cat6+ it's very hard to use tricks like making network cables with CCA for example.

 

If you're cheap and you buy a CCA cable (copper clad aluminum) you're basically buying cat5e cable where each wire has a core of aluminum on which there's a thin layer of copper ... these cables are not meant to be used for more than a few meters, they're basically patch cord cables, but lots of people use them on long distances and then wonder why the cables aren't reliable. 

[qwazwak]

13 minutes ago, mariushm said:

-SNIP-?

Yes, Yes, So much explanation and yes. You are completely right.

Apparently CCA is also illegal for domestic use in the US (See here)

 

 

[kkpdk]

The ends of a network link will attempt to work at the speed they are configured for (if configured/configurable), or autonegotiate to the highest common speed. If the electrical performance of the link between the parties is not good enough, you get errors. Very rarely do I see switches drop down to a lower speed, and when they do, it is usuallly 10Mbps.

 

The switches only see the electrical performance on the link, not what is printed on the components:

I have a bit of experience with running networks on old cabling. Work has ~40 switches, and the edge cabling and termination that goes with that, all cat5 from the 10Mbps era. Not cat5e, plain old cat5. The 1000BASE-T spec allows gigabit on cat5, and it does work, but with no margin for maximum length runs. cat5e has (from memory) stricter crosstalk specifications, with leads to some margin. 

 

As Xineas notes, as far as the 8P8C connector goes, the 'cat6' one accomodates thicker wires, which in turn allow higher PoE power limits. As far as actually crimping it onto a cable is concerned, I find that a tightly-twisted cat5e connector on cat5e cable will run 10Gbps, whereas a cat6 one with the twist of the cat6 cable unwound too far will give me errors. So take care and make pretty terminations, they matter.

If you find yourself in a situation where you are running 1Gbps on cat5 (not 5e), or 10Gbps on cat5e (which is not officially an option, as the cat5e requirements are not strict enough), I very strongly recommend some level of management on the switches. Without it finding that defective link becomes impossible.

[qwazwak]

2 minutes ago, kkpdk said:

The ends of a network link will attempt to work at the speed they are configured for (if configured/configurable), or autonegotiate to the highest common speed. If the electrical performance of the link between the parties is not good enough, you get errors.

So the couple millimeters of metal in it shouldn't make a difference?