Cable Forum - View Single Post - Would Having a CAT5e Ethernet make any difference in speed between CAT6e

Zhadnost · 21-10-2009, 08:58

Cat5e is fine for up to Gigabit. Wouldn't make any difference. IIRC Cat 6 is rated to operate at least 250MHz signalling, Cat 5 at least 100MHz (although will do more, a lot of 5e have 350Mhz written on the sleeving).

Cat 6 was required for 1000BaseTX, (version that only used 2 pairs), but I've been doing network admin for 12 years, and have never seen any TX kit.

Basically, Cat 6 is better cable, but you don't really need it.

You do however need Cat 6 for 10GBASE-T (unless it's a long run, in which case you need Cat6a or Cat7.

21-10-2009, 08:58	#4
Zhadnost Inactive Join Date: Sep 2004 Services: XXL Broadband, Phone Posts: 604	Re: Would Having a CAT5e Ethernet make any difference in speed between CAT6e Cat5e is fine for up to Gigabit. Wouldn't make any difference. IIRC Cat 6 is rated to operate at least 250MHz signalling, Cat 5 at least 100MHz (although will do more, a lot of 5e have 350Mhz written on the sleeving). Cat 6 was required for 1000BaseTX, (version that only used 2 pairs), but I've been doing network admin for 12 years, and have never seen any TX kit. Basically, Cat 6 is better cable, but you don't really need it. You do however need Cat 6 for 10GBASE-T (unless it's a long run, in which case you need Cat6a or Cat7.