Cat 6 or Cat 6E?

[Gollom]

Got the opportunity to re-cable from Cat 5 (will be behind insulated cladding so shouldn't need exterior grade I guess)

Cat 6 or Cat 6E? Nothing fancy going on, just want to transfer data at Gigabit speeds. Crimp tool I have is standard RJ45 and got lots of standard RJ45 plugs, so ideally still want to use them.

Don't need much - got any lying around? lol

 

[Jokuk]

Our new IT spec at works calls for cat 6e but no idea why......I could ask but may not understand the answer

 

[Stratman]

As a matter of principle I'd always go for the highest spec. You may not need it today, but who knows what tomorrow may bring?

 

[grober]

Category 6 cable - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I would hazard that the quality of the manufacturer might actually be a better guide than any nominal rating.

 

[LTD]

Why the need to move from cat5 unless its's for the shielding.

cat6 is a bugger to work with - especially in confined locations.

 

[markjay]

Given that you need neither, you might as well go for the higher spec while you'r at it...

You will not notice any difference between Cat-5E and Cat-6/Cat-6E anyway.

And if you use just one Cat-5E patch lead then you have degraded the Cat-6 spec to Cat-5E....

The short answer is that it does not matter.

And yes, Cat-6/Cat-6E is more difficult to install, and cost around 20% more overall.

 

[wilsodg]

5E. As others point out, CAT 6 has a piece of plastic spacing down the middle of the cable to keep the wires adequately spaced, but it makes the cable much bigger. I'm running gigabit over CAT 5 even (which surprised me). For most installs, shielded 5E is probably a better option than 6. Maybe 6 or 7 will cope better with 10gb ethernet, but so many other things in the way to drop the connection quality ( like cheaper patch cables, connections, sockets etc.). It might make a difference if you are doing 75m -100m runs but one of mine is 60m and is fine with 5E. I've never had a piece of equipment delivered with a CAT6 patch cable (which have staggered connect pins) - so likelihood is that you'll be down at a CAT5(E) install anyway.

 

[miro]

Cat 6 or 6E is significantly better than any 5E. Given that all HDMI signals are now available over Category6 running TCP/IP. Given that UHD (4K and 8K) probably wont be compatible with 6.

Always use faceplates or patch panels. Your crimping tool cant do what a proper wall connector does and crimping is an artform. There are 4 types of crimpable connector and if you use the wrong one the signal will degrade.

 

[Stratman]

If you're running it behind skirting boards and the like, be careful of bending it too sharply. The bend radius should be a minimum of four times the cable diameter. Any tighter and the cable performance will suffer.