What is the difference between Cat 5 and cat 6 cables?

Answer 1

Hello All,

There is one major Diffrence between cat6 and cat7 , and this deference is cat 6 has 100 MBPS network speed and cat7 has 1 GBPS network speed.

Regards

-Amol N Gajare

Answer 2

it is the grading of the cables, depends what your using the cable for, such as telecommunications, you might need a stronger and less resisitive cable such as cat6, It's the amount of bandwidth the cable can carry without cross talk or internally induced error.

Answer 3

Category 5 is the most basic. Cat 5 cable is available in two varieties: Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP), the type widely used in the United States, and Screened Twisted Pair (SCTP), which has shielding to provide a measure of extra protection against interference, but is rarely used outside of Europe. Cables belonging to Category 5 are either solid or stranded: Solid Cat 5 is more rigid, and the better choice if data needs to be transmitted over a long distance, while Stranded Cat 5 is very flexible and most likely to be used as patch cable. Cat 5 cable can support 10 or 100 Mbps Ethernet, and has a capability of up to 100MHz.

Cat 5e: Cat 5e (which stands for Category 5, enhanced) cable goes along the same lines as basic Cat 5, except that it fulfills higher standards of data transmission. While Cat 5 is common in existing cabling systems, Category 5e has almost entirely replaced it in new installations. Cat 5e can handle data transfer at 1000 Mbps, is suitable for Gigabit Ethernet, and experiences much lower levels of near-end crosstalk (NEXT) than Cat 5.

Cat 6: Category 6 is the most advanced and provides the best performance. Just like Cat 5 and Cat 5e, Category 6 cable is typically made up of four twisted pairs of copper wire, but its capabilities far exceed those of other cable types because of one particular structural difference: a longitudinal separator. This separator isolates each of the four pairs of twisted wire from the others, which reduces crosstalk, allows for faster data transfer, and gives Category 6 cable twice the bandwidth of Cat 5! Cat 6 cable is ideal for supporting 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and is able to operate at up to 250 MHz. Since technology and standards are constantly evolving, Cat 6 is the wisest choice of cable when taking any possible future updates to your network into consideration. Not only is Category 6 cable future-safe, it is also backward-compatible with any previously-existing Cat 5 and Cat 5e cabling found in older installations Regards Vilas Bhakde

Answer 4

Typically, Cat6 has thicker wires than Cat5 (20-22 gauge as opposed to 22-24 gauge for Cat5), and has much tighter control over twists per centimetre on the pairs, and on capacitance between pairs. In practice, Cat6 cable often has a plastic divider that isolates the four pairs. In use, Cat5e cable can usually carry up to 300 megabits per second, while Cat6 carries 1000 megabits per second. Both Cat5 (and Cat5e) and Cat6 have eight wires, arranged as four twisted pairs, but Cat6 is specified as using all four pairs for signalling, while Cat5 uses only two pairs.

Answer 5

Cat5 vs Cat5e vs Cat6 vs Cat7 Cables

Cat5 and Cat5e and Cat6 and Cat7 are different standards for cables. If you are wondering if these names of some species of cats, you are wrong. These are types of twisted copper cables that are used to transmit data through network and also used in Home Theater applications. Category 5 (Cat5), Category 5e, and category 6 are the names given to these cables depending upon their performance level. Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) and Electronic Industries Association (EIA) are organizations that set guidelines for the production of these cables which help manufacturers to classify these cables.

Cat5

Cat5 has almost become a standard for connecting Ethernet devices world over. It is inexpensive and very effective. It is also available readily making it the most commonly used cable for connecting Ethernet devices. It is available in two types, the Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP), and the Screened Twisted Pair (SCTP). UTP is used in the US on a huge basis. SCTP has a protective covering as a means of protection against interferences. Cat5 cables are either solid or stranded. To transmit data over long distances, solid Cat5 is ideal as it is rigid, but stranded Cat5 is good to patch cables. Cat5 has the capacity to support 10-100 Mbps and 100MHz.

However, in the last few years, there has been a gradual shift from standard 10/100 networks to gigabit networks which has sounded death knells for Cat5 as it cannot support such high speeds. This led to a new type of cables that are an upgrade version of Cat5, known as Cat5e.

Cat5e

These cables came into existence only to make Cat5 compatible with gigabit networks. They also help extra protection from interference from other cables. However, 5e cannot remove interference completely which results in slow and poor performance. Nevertheless, 5e does make the network more reliable and quicker than Cat5.

Cat6

Cat6 is much more advanced than both Cat5 and Cat5e and also gives a much better performance. Though it is made up of 4 twisted pairs of copper cables just like Cat5 and Cat5e, it is much better because of a basic difference in designing. This difference comes from a longitudinal separator. This separator keeps all 4 wires separate from one another which helps in reducing cross talk, also known as interference. It also allows for a faster transfer of data. Cat6 has double the bandwidth of Cat5. It is capable of supporting 10 gigabit Ethernet and can operate at 250MHz.

If you think of future and possible technological advances, it is better to go with Cat6. What is more, Cat6 is backward compatible which means it can be used in any network that employed Cat5 and Cat5e.

However, because of its thicker size, you may have difficulty in using your regular RJ45 connectors, and you may have to use special connectors for the purpose.

Cat7

It is the next generation cabling device for Ethernet connections. It is an improvement upon both Cat5 and Cat6 in terms of internal signaling and exterior protection. These cables are able to support 10gigabit connections and a re adaptable with standard Ethernet connectors.

Answer 6

CAT6 natively supports 1Gbps and higher while for CAT5e it is a stretch. CAT6 operates at 250MHz while CAT5e does it at 100MHz. CAT6 does have reduced length compared to CAT5e but it has higher requirements for noise level and crosstalk.

CAT5 is absolute.

Answer 7

Cat6 cable becomes the minimun standard for a new installation for the cabling. CAt5 cable is unshielded with twisted pair cable and this cable is a common ethernet cable for computer networks. CAt6 cable is more reliable and fastest cable than the cat5 cables and both are plugged into the same port. The data transfer speed in both cables is different from cat6 cable is higher than cat5 cable. CAt6 cable supports more frequency according to cat5 cable frequency is 250MHz.

Answer 8

Cat5 and Cat6 cables are commonly used for network cables to connect computers and other servers.

Cat5-

Cat5 supports up to 100Mbps at a 100MHz bandwidth.

Cat5e cable performs half to two twists per centimeter.

CAt5 cable cost is less than cat6 cable.

Cat6-

Cat6 supports up to 1000Mbps at a 250MHz bandwidth.

Cat6 cable more tightly and two or more twists per centimeter.

CAt6 cable diameter has thicker around 0.250-inches.

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Answer 9

A Cat-6 cable has more twists than a Cat-5 cable, meaning that a Cat-6 cable has less crosstalk and interference.

Answer 10

A Cat 5 patch cord can be used on 10base-T and 100base-T ethernet segments.

A Cat 6 patch cord can also be used on 1000base-T segments.