Are Cat6 cables better then Cat5 cable?

[nycundaground]

Are Cat6 cables better then Cat5 cable?

[twump]

if i remember correctly cat6 is for a different type of networking. cat 3 i beleive is phone line cat5 and cat5e are ethernet and i don't remember exactly what cat6 is for. every cat # wire has a different purpose, ones not really better then another

[OSUmaxx]

Cat 6 cable is ethernet cable that is certified for gigabit speeds. I believe that Cat 5e will technically work just fine for gigabit, but this is what is recommended. This will work with all networks that Cat 5 would work with.

[srs]

Unless you've got gigabit nics and have the extra dough to spend, don't bother.

[mbentley]

Originally posted by srs
Unless you've got gigabit nics and have the extra dough to spend, don't bother.

or if you plan on upgrading your network to gigabit and want certified cable...

but if you are connecting your computer to a cable modem then it would be awfully worthless :)

[Huckleberry]

Simply put, Cat 6 can handle higher frequencies with less attenuation, less susceptibility to outside interference and less susceptibility to cross-talk between the inside wires themselves.

This is important if you want to run GB over some length of cable and not so important if all of your equipment is close together.

[OSUmaxx]

Originally posted by mbentley


or if you plan on upgrading your network to gigabit and want certified cable...

but if you are connecting your computer to a cable modem then it would be awfully worthless :)


Why would attaching a cable modem affect your network speed? You could still transfer files to back and forth between your computers at gigabit speeds. I realize that you can't download faster, but there are still benefits...

[mbentley]

Originally posted by OSUmaxx


Why would attaching a cable modem affect your network speed? You could still transfer files to back and forth between your computers at gigabit speeds. I realize that you can't download faster, but there are still benefits...

i was talking about connecting a cable modem to your computer (or a router) with cat6 between the cable modem and whatever device it is plugged into would be useless since your broadband is going to be even less than 10 mbps....

[nahmus]

If you are running cat6 its just as important how the wire is run as the type of wire. I don't remember all of the guidlines but a few are.

No bends of 90degrees, use a 45degree loop

no running over flourescent lighting.

no bundling with electrical wires...

its all pretty common sense stuff. If anybody is really interested I can find the guidelines and post them.

[Crash893]

yes cat6 is better than cat5


for the most part follow the same guidelines as with cat5

cat6 is less susptiable to cross talk if i remeber correctly thats why it can support faster speeds.

[Mr.Guvernment]

i need to rewire our house here - think maybe go with cat6 - i hope to get giga in the future - we have 8 computers - 2 laptops on wireless an we do alot of file transfers between comps.

[don256us]

I was just researching TIA standards last week. Cat 6, as I understand, is not yet fully ratified. Therefore Cat6 from one maker could be different than from another maker. At any rate, Cat5 and 5e will handle Gigabit. I use 5e for the time being.

No bends of 90degrees, use a 45degree loop

no running over flourescent lighting.

no bundling with electrical wires...


Definately no kinks. Slow round bends only.

When pulling, no more than 25ft/lb per cable.

At least one foot from electrical wires.

No cable longer than 100 meters plus up to 3 patch cables no longer than 10 meters in total length.
(had a debate in another thread that said 90 meters plus the other 10. I'm still not sure on that.)

Plenum (spelling) cable for use inside air ducts.

Those are the ones that come to mind. There are many other requirements too but those are the main points in my mind.

[nahmus]

Originally posted by Crash893
yes cat6 is better than cat5


for the most part follow the same guidelines as with cat5

cat6 is less susptiable to cross talk if i remeber correctly thats why it can support faster speeds.

If you strip the casing off of CAT6 you notice that there are more twists per foot than cat5 (and more in cat5 than cat3) Its the twists that cuts down on crosstalk and maintains integrity. I think the twists create some kind of field that protects the signals. Thats why its important to crimp the wires in the correct order.

Theres a much more technical explination as to how the twists work but I can't remember it.

[mujgy]

Originally posted by don256us
No cable longer than 100 meters plus up to 3 patch cables no longer than 10 meters in total length.
(had a debate in another thread that said 90 meters plus the other 10. I'm still not sure on that.)


Nope 100 total meters from nic card to nic card (or whatever). When pulling cable we draw out catchment areas so there are never any drops longer then 90m this is including horizontal and vertical measurments.

There should only be three total cables. One going from the nic to the jack in the wall (3meters), another from the jack to the patch panel in the MDF or IDF (wiring closets) (90meters), and then patch panel to the packet forwarding equipment (6meters). Yes thats only 99meters but thats 1 meter to let slide in other places and to make up for mistakes in calculating lengths.

And so the maximum length as stated by the TIA/EIA standard is 100 meters tip to tip.

Will the cable work if its 105 meters, yeah. will it work longer then that and not have terrible antunuation, possible but its not worth it, and no professional will ever do it.

The more antunuation you have the less potential bandwidth is avaible to that node. So your 100baseT is not going to hit 100mbps (it dosn't really ever anyway more like 90-95 on a good run) but the more interference then more packets are lost and so it slows transfers down.

My ADSL modem is only 10baseT because 100baseT is unnessasary for a 256k connection. So if i really wanted to I could us CAT3 which does support 10baseT this is 4 conductor wire that gets used as phone lines in buildings. Even Cat5 still only uses 4 conductors. 1,2,3, and 6 why I dunno. Cisco didn't explain that well. I think it just left the other open for later use if higher bandwith is needed, or else its grounding I don't recall.

Screw copper go fiber its getting closer to where its practical... well not yet but in a few more years. You have to appreciate unlimited bandwidth and 2000meter runs (single mode). But even multimode fiber is great for back bone cabling or to a server.

Fiber is accually stronger then copper cable. It has a higher tensile strength and has a higher bend radius. New epoxy jacks make terminating a snap. And its lighter and smaller and EMI proof and just plain cool. :cool:

Ok I'm done. hehe :D

[nahmus]

I've never worked with fiber. How does it hold up to being banged around stepped on wedged etc. Is there a danger of breaking or fracturing the fiber inside the cable? I think that copper will always have a place because it can take a beating.

[don256us]

It's been a while since I've worked with fiber. A few years ago when I did work with fiber, it meant having a special microscope (ours was 100x better ones were 250x) a special tool to strip the cladding (spelling) special scissors to cut the Kevlar fibers, polishing paper, a special polishing puck, and so on. In addition, it took a ton of patients.

These days, you can get gigabit over copper. Unless you have a long run in a permanent setting, I wouldn't do fiber. Just doesn't make sense to me.

That's my two cents. Oh, plus my other two cents above.:D

[mujgy]

I kinda ment fiber in the corportate side. Where wear and tear are a little less of a problem. Its not the cheapest medium but the benifits out way the cost. You run fiber and you'll never have to upgade cabling agian. With copper the mhz of the wire only goes so far. I think Cat5 is 100mhz and Cat6 is 350mhz. You can buy the higher grades of copper but theres no standards for those. With fiber is just a matter of upgradeing the end equipment and you have more bandwidth.

I accually see wireless technology progressing to the point of full bandwith availble on wire and still have heavy encryption so no one gets into your network. And greater distances.

[mtnbikerjerry]

Single mode fiber works the best. I had networked a Cisco 12000 OC-3 card to a Nortel OC-48 Mux when I had worked at Qwest. When using multimode, as measured in capacity and distance, the single mode surpasses multimode cabling. The same was said when I had networked some gigabit switches with a fiber uplink port. I was able to have the switch at a further location that of a normal multi-mode fiber setup.