CAT5E gives slower ISP download speed than CAT6

[Travercraig]

Recently I replaced some CAT6 cable with some CAT5E due to the CAT6 being far too long to fit inside some trunking. I was under the impression that the difference in speeds between CAT5E and CAT6 should only matter for local network speeds. However as soon as I plugged in the CAT5E cable from my router to my PC,  I did a speedtest and my download speed was dramaticlly reduced. Normally on CAT6 I get my full speed of 220 Mbps but on CAT5E I get around 60 Mbps. I tested it muliple times as well with consistent results. 

 

The CAT5E was cut to length and crimped by someone at my dads work (they often run ethernet cables for large buildings) and he said it could be that the crimping wasn't done properly or something.

 

Does this sound normal for CAT5E, are there other factors at work here, or could it be that the cable wasn't crimped properly?

 

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[Falconevo]

What link speed does the network interface show connected at?

[LunaP0n3]

Could be the better shielding and build quality of the cable, as cat6 is held to a higher standard. Is your network cable running near power cords?

[UGP Studios]

1 hour ago, GR412 said:

Recently I replaced some CAT6 cable with some CAT5E due to the CAT6 being far too long to fit inside some trunking. I was under the impression that the difference in speeds between CAT5E and CAT6 should only matter for local network speeds. However as soon as I plugged in the CAT5E cable from my router to my PC,  I did a speedtest and my download speed was dramaticlly reduced. Normally on CAT6 I get my full speed of 220 Mbps but on CAT5E I get around 60 Mbps. I tested it muliple times as well with consistent results. 

 

The CAT5E was cut to length and crimped by someone at my dads work (they often run ethernet cables for large buildings) and he said it could be that the crimping wasn't done properly or something.

 

Does this sound normal for CAT5E, are there other factors at work here, or could it be that the cable wasn't crimped properly?

 

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Well first there are different qualities of CAT5e cable, some are definitely cheaper and slower mediums then higher quality cable. Sheilding could be another issue, maybe the wires are having cross talk issues... Also are you making your own cables? The ends might now be as high of quality as needed to support high speeds... 

[Acedia]

Cat5e should be able to handle 1 gigabit/s just fine.

[Jay Deah]

what lengths are we talking about here?

 

assuming it's not particuarly long, i'd assume the issue is with the termination. ie it's FAULTY

 

cable can be bad, but it's pretty rare if its off a new reel. as the last guy said, cat5e is good for gigabit ethernet at 100m

[Travercraig]

12 hours ago, Falconevo said:

What link speed does the network interface show connected at?

I'm not sure but I got rid of the CAT5E cables now.

[Travercraig]

12 hours ago, LunaP0n3 said:

Could be the better shielding and build quality of the cable, as cat6 is held to a higher standard. Is your network cable running near power cords?

It doesn't no. It runs isolated from other cables.

[Travercraig]

10 hours ago, UnidentifiedGold said:

Well first there are different qualities of CAT5e cable, some are definitely cheaper and slower mediums then higher quality cable. Sheilding could be another issue, maybe the wires are having cross talk issues... Also are you making your own cables? The ends might now be as high of quality as needed to support high speeds... 

Well someone at my dads work made them. I'm not sure what the quality is like but they have rolls and rolls of it.

[Travercraig]

2 hours ago, Jay Deah said:

what lengths are we talking about here?

 

assuming it's not particuarly long, i'd assume the issue is with the termination. ie it's FAULTY

 

cable can be bad, but it's pretty rare if its off a new reel. as the last guy said, cat5e is good for gigabit ethernet at 100m

Well I'd imagine the 6 meters we're talking isn't long at all, but you say gigabit ethernet does that mean download speed from my isp? Because thats what i'm talking about. Not local networking.

[Travercraig]

Just now, GR412 said:

Well I'd imagine the 6 meters we're talking isn't long at all, but you say gigabit ethernet does that mean download speed from my isp? Brcause thats what i'm talking about. Not local networking.

 

[2FA]

4 hours ago, GR412 said:

Well I'd imagine the 6 meters we're talking isn't long at all, but you say gigabit ethernet does that mean download speed from my isp? Because thats what i'm talking about. Not local networking.

Data rate is data rate, and by that I mean the cable is rated up to 1Gbps up to 100m. That means Cat5e spec is rated for that; the cable you actually have may be of poor quality or the crimping/connector is of poor quality. If there are power cables next to the cable, they could be causing interference which the Cat6 cable blocks (due to better shielding) but the Cat5e does not. Your connection speed shouldn't be an issue so it's either quality or interference at play.

[Travercraig]

5 hours ago, 2FA said:

Data rate is data rate, and by that I mean the cable is rated up to 1Gbps up to 100m. That means Cat5e spec is rated for that; the cable you actually have may be of poor quality or the crimping/connector is of poor quality. If there are power cables next to the cable, they could be causing interference which the Cat6 cable blocks (due to better shielding) but the Cat5e does not. Your connection speed shouldn't be an issue so it's either quality or interference at play.

I see, that makes sense. Well at least I know it's probaly the quality of cable and not the fact that CAT5E can't give me the same download speeds as CAT6. Thanks for the answer!