Thread: Speed up with able cable

A recent house move meant I had to lay some fresh network cable, so I took the opportunity to upgrade. I'd previously been mostly using enhanced Category 5 cable, or Cat 5e, although when packing my equipment, I was embarrassed to find older non-enhanced Cat 5 patch cables still in operation - not for critical links, I should add.



Cat 5e improved on old Cat 5 with stricter specifications and reduced crosstalk, although both types share the same 100MHz signal attenuation. Cat 6, which has stricter specifications, improved crosstalk and reducing signal noise. This, and an improved connector, allows Cat 6 to support a signal attenuation of 250MHz. It is fully compatible with existing networking equipment, but if you mix and match cabling between devices, they'll communicate at the lowest common denominator.

Cat 6 was becoming available when I bought my Cat 5e cabling, but at a high premium. Today, although prices of Cat 6 are affordable, the big question is what sort of benefit you're likely to enjoy in practice over Cat 5e, and even Cat 5. After all, while Cat 5e and especially Cat 6 are widely recommended for Gigabit networking, the standard was originally designed to work also with ageing Cat 5.