CAT 5E vs CAT6?

[Okjoek]

We needed an extra Ethernet cable and we picked out a 50 ft CAT6. My current computer uses a 50 ft CAT5E. It has always sucked being on the opposite end of the house from the router, but I live with it. My question is will I notice any improvement on this desktop if I swap out my 5E cable with the 6. The leftover cable is being used to hook up a cellphone signal booster.

[AlwaysFSX]

Nope, you won't.

[Cryosec]

depends on what ethernet port you have on the pc and the speed of your network, 5e should reach gigabit speed, cat6 10 gigabits

[leadeater]

Both Cat5e and Cat6 have the same maximum distance of 100m for 1Gbps so no it shouldn't make any difference.

[vanished]

I believe it's CAT 6A that's really designed for 10 Gbit, correct?  Some places seem to say CAT 6 will do it but afaik it's not really a good idea.

[leadeater]

3 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I believe it's CAT 6A that's really designed for 10 Gbit, correct?  Some places seem to say CAT 6 will do it but afaik it's not really a good idea.

Cat6 is rated to 55m at 10Gb but I would always buy Cat6a if 10Gb is the intended use when buying new cables. I use Cat6 for 10Gb currently but had to since that was what was already in the walls and way to costly to go replacing that at home.

[Crosseyed Sniper]

You may as well get a Cat6a cable if you can do so. Here is the cable I purchased recently. Except I purchased a length of 35'.

 

When I am connected to the Internet through my router I am getting a consistent 73 Mbps, but when I connect straight to the cable modem, I get a steady 94 Mbps! 

[Unhelpful]

16 hours ago, leadeater said:

Cat6 is rated to 55m at 10Gb but I would always buy Cat6a if 10Gb is the intended use when buying new cables. I use Cat6 for 10Gb currently but had to since that was what was already in the walls and way to costly to go replacing that at home.

Know where to buy any with a connector that isn't as fragile as a glass-boned newborn?

[dalekphalm]

11 hours ago, Crosseyed Sniper said:

You may as well get a Cat6a cable if you can do so. Here is the cable I purchased recently. Except I purchased a length of 35'.

 

When I am connected to the Internet through my router I am getting a consistent 73 Mbps, but when I connect straight to the cable modem, I get a steady 94 Mbps! 

Erm.. you could literally use a Cat 5 (That's NOT Cat 5e), and get the same speeds. Cat 5 supports maximum speeds of 100 Mbps over a distance of 100m (~330') - though it can often achieve 1Gbps speeds at shorter distances.

 

Cat 5e supports 1Gbps at 100m. Cat 6 supports 1Gbps at 100m, or 10Gbps at 55m. And finally Cat 6a supports 10Gbps at 100m.

 

So basically, none of that makes any difference what so ever, when your Internet speed is 100Mbps or under.

 

But I digress. I still suggest people buy Cat 6 or Cat6a when possible, due to internal networking (LAN) for file transfers, local media servers, etc., and of course, future compatibility for when 10GigE becomes the consumer standard in a few years.

[leadeater]

7 hours ago, JoeyDM said:

Know where to buy any with a connector that isn't as fragile as a glass-boned newborn?

At home everything is self terminated, I just buy everything from my local electrical trade supplier. At my previous job we used Dynamix but I wouldn't say they are better than anything else really.

[Unhelpful]

1 hour ago, leadeater said:

 

I'm talking about cat6a where the connector isn't going to break the first time you slightly bend it near the connector. 

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, JoeyDM said:

I'm talking about cat6a where the connector isn't going to break the first time you slightly bend it near the connector. 

Hmm never really had that issue, most of my cables are set and forget though. Is the issue your having with foil or screening breaking?

 

If it is then I've always used U/UTP for device connectivity for the durability problems and S/UTP for rested of structured cabling but only when required. I'm no data cabler and any kind of foiling or screening is just a pain in the ass but even the people who do it as their day job hate it.

 

I mostly work with SFP+ DAC and QSFP+ DAC for 10Gb/40Gb though as it is in every way better to work with.

[Scheer]

2 hours ago, JoeyDM said:

I'm talking about cat6a where the connector isn't going to break the first time you slightly bend it near the connector. 

What do you do to your poor cables?

 

I'm using a cheap Monoprice one that IT gave me at work, and it gets plugged and unplugged from my laptop every work day, often multiple times a day, for the past three years and still works just fine. I honestly don't know if I've ever personally broken one, but have seen them break when someone rolled a chair over them or something.

 

Are you breaking the plastic RJ45 connector, or the cable where it enters the RJ45? If the latter find a cable with a molded boot.

 

EDIT: Whoops, forgot Cat6a was foiled pairs, I guess I could see that being an issue... I always just run 5e or 6 as a patch cable, and 6a for the walls.