Ethernet Cables

[Rienks]

I'm for a ethernet cable to connect from my modem to my new comp. Should I get any random cable or maybe a Cat 6. What is even the difference?

 

My Internet Speed if it matters(connected via ethernet, 4 other devices using wifi, quoted 30 down 5 up)

 

 

Thanks Everyone

[RollinLower]

i vote you get a cat6 or cat5e cable. it won't make a whole lot of difference with your internet speeds, tough if you ever get more bandwith a cat6 should hold up longer than the cat5e.

cat5e can get up to 100MHz, cat6 can get up to 250MHz.

[Rienks]

i vote you get a cat6 or cat5e cable. it won't make a whole lot of difference with your internet speeds, tough if you ever get more bandwith a cat6 should hold up longer than the cat5e.

cat5e can get up to 100MHz, cat6 can get up to 250MHz.

Should I go for Cat 6? Plan to get a new connection of 100 down 20 up after this contract expires in a few months

[RollinLower]

depends on how much the cost is really, with 100 down and 20 up a cat5e would do perfectly fine too. i have my pc on cat5e and i get this.

 

[leadeater]

The cost difference between Cat 6 and Cat 5e should be basically none. Cat 5e is actually extremely old now and likely not manufactured anymore, just tons and tons of existing stock.

 

Buy a Cat 6 cable, it is the current standard 'every man cable'. Also just so you know unless you get an internet connection faster than 1Gb then Cat 6 vs Cat 5e is irrelevant.

[Rienks]

The cost difference between Cat 6 and Cat 5e should be basically none. Cat 5e is actually extremely old now and likely not manufactured anymore, just tons and tons of existing stock.

 

Buy a Cat 6 cable, it is the current standard 'every man cable'. Also just so you know unless you get an internet connection faster than 1Gb then Cat 6 vs Cat 5e is irrelevant.

what if I live in dunedin?

[Wombo]

I'm for a ethernet cable to connect from my modem to my new comp. Should I get any random cable or maybe a Cat 6. What is even the difference?

 

My Internet Speed if it matters(connected via ethernet, 4 other devices using wifi, quoted 30 down 5 up)

 

 

Thanks Everyone

If you want to go forCat6 get cat6a. Cat6 and Cat5e are nearly identical and it really isn't worth it. My suggestion would be Cat5e, Cat6a, Cat6, in that order.

 

Cat5e will support gigabit LAN speeds and is the most common cable type used for a simple reason, it's cheap and it works.

Cat6a will support 10 gigabit but you are paying for the extra shielding in the cable, PoE gets difficult when running above 1gigabit.

Cat6 has never really become a well adopted cable standard. It is better at dealing with cross-talk than Cat5e UTP but shielded Cat5e can still be cheaper.

[leadeater]

what if I live in dunedin?

 

The Gigatown competition is actually a complete farce. All the current UFB fibre to the home roll out is the same equipment and is capable of 1Gbps connections but they are choosing not to offer it. Also the link out of NZ is fairly crap so you are never going to get close to this kind of speed, even to NZ hosted sites is still unlikely for the near future.

 

The reason why they don't offer those speeds across the country is the infrastructure couldn't handle it and everything would grind to a halt.

[FizzyFantom]

I would suggest you purchase CAT5e cables, unless they are the same price as CAT6.

 

Unless you plan to invest in a full 10Gb network then CAT6 won't gain you anything. The only other value of CAT6 you might want is the better insulation for running through electrically noisy environments. CAT6a would probably be a better investment for long or ESD prone runs anyway.

 

If any of that applies to you (or you want to "futureproof" some structured cabling) then go for CAT6a, other wise get CAT5e, it's significantly cheaper (at least where I am).

[leadeater]

If you want to go forCat6 get cat6a. Cat6 and Cat5e are nearly identical and it really isn't worth it. My suggestion would be Cat5e, Cat6a, Cat6, in that order.

 

Cat5e will support gigabit LAN speeds and is the most common cable type used for a simple reason, it's cheap and it works.

Cat6a will support 10 gigabit but you are paying for the extra shielding in the cable, PoE gets difficult when running above 1gigabit.

Cat6 has never really become a well adopted cable standard. It is better at dealing with cross-talk than Cat5e UTP but shielded Cat5e can still be cheaper.

 

Cat 6 actually became fairly common here in NZ. The government put out a set of cabling standards long time ago which all departments and sectors were mandated to adhere to when doing network upgrades. There was also a nation wide School Network Upgrade Program (SNUP), still on going, to upgrade all schools and when this started Cat 6 was the requirement. Standard has been updated and yea it's now Cat 6a. So there is actually tons of Cat 6 here in NZ now, go figure. I actually wired my house with Cat 6 when it was built.

 

The hospitals here when they get upgraded are also using Cat 7 or Cat 7a everywhere, can't remember which but I could go look at the cable spec sheet being used. Cablers hate them for it, none of them like working with S/FTP cables, and requires wider cabinets which then need a bigger room so the total cost of install is HUGE.