What is the difference between various cable types like Cat 5, Cat 5e and Cat 6?

Question

I'm just about to move house, so I'm going to have to disconnect and re-wire my network. Pretty much all the devices I have support Gigabit Ethernet. Should I go out and buy some decent network cables (and if so what type) or should I continue using my mix of Cat 5 cables I've acquired over the years.

Does the type of cable really make a difference to my LAN performance?

Solution 1

Depending on how old they are and how badly they've been abused, your existing cables may be starting to deteriorate.

Plus, if you replace them, you can do spiffy color-coding.

Cat 5e can theoretically handle 1gig-e, while Cat 6 can handle 10gig-e; Cat 6 is typically more expensive. Basically, if you buy a quality cable, Cat 5e should do it.

Solution 2

I'd start looking into buying new Cat5e or Cat6 cables. Cat5e cables are about the same size as Cat5. Cat6 cables are a bit thicker. I just threw out most of my old Cat5 cables and replaced them with pre-made Cat5e ones.

I like monoprice.com for cables. I don't crimp my own cables anymore; it's too hard to get a good connection using an inexpensive (~$30) crimper. If time=money, it's much cheaper for me to buy pre-crimped cables of various lengths.

Solution 3

Cat5e should be good enough for the next few years.

If you don't mind crimping your own connectors you can buy a bulk spool of cable from you local big box hardware store. It's much cheaper than buying lots of shorter cables and you can make custom lengths.

Solution 4

For the typical home network, Cat 5e will work for years to come. Cat 6 is a slightly different animal from an operational and installation point of view and not worth the effort unless the environment is hostile (read that as full of interference producing devices).

Not too many homes, or even business locations for that matter, are hostile enough to justify Cat 6. Self-proclaimed 'experts' in places like Best Buy will tell you Cat 6 is the way to go, but most of them have no clue what they're talking about, or at least I haven't met one in my 20+ years of electrical and network cabling experience.

View more solutions

Comments

[James McMahon]

Or you could use Monoprice.com, cat 6 is pretty dirt cheap there.

[Naidim]

If Cat6 patch cables only costs a few pennies more, what reason would there be to not buy them instead of Cat5e?