Cat5e VS Cat6 Cable – Which One Will You Choose?

With low cost, easy operation and great flexibility, twisted pair cables are widely used in telephone communications and modern Ethernet networks. Nowadays, there are many categories of twisted pair cables available on the market, such as cat3 cable, cat5/cat5e cable, cat6/cat 6a cable, and cat7 cable, etc. Today, I’d like to give a brief but complete discussion about two common categories—cat5e and cat6, which are so similar to each other that the general public may feel confused to know which cable is suitable for their tasks.

What Is Cat5e Cable?

Cat5e is an enhanced specification of the cat5 standard which was introduced to the market in early 2001. While similar to cat5 cable in appearance, cat5e cable introduces some new links in the equation. For one thing, cat5e cable uses four pairs of copper wire rather than the two that cat5 cable relies on. In addition, the wire pairs are twisted more tightly to eliminate crosstalk. Due to its internal upgrades, including faster transmission rate and higher bandwidth, cat5e cable has become the most common type of cabling found in modern homes and offices for Ethernet purposes. The following picture shows Cat5e cable.

What Is Cat6 Cable?

Only a year after cat5e was introduced, a new standard—cat6 was born. The cat6 standard improved upon the cat5e by increasing frequency responses, tightening crosstalk specifications, and introducing more comprehensive crosstalk specifications. Usually, cat6 cable (shown in the picture below) consists of four unshielded twisted pairs (UTP) terminated with RJ45 connectors, which is often used for 10Base-T (Ethernet), 100Base-TX (Fast Ethernet), 1000Base-T (Gigabit Ethernet) and 10GBase-T networks.

Differences Between Cat5e and Cat6 Cables

Transmission Speed

When we think about advances in cabling, transmission speed is the first thing that should be taken into consideration. As we mentioned previously, cat6 cable can be used to power 10GBase-T or 10G Ethernet, while the maximum speed that cat5e cable can support is 1GBase-T or 1G Ethernet. This is because cat6 cable performs up to 250 MHz, which is more than twice that of cat5e cable (100 MHz). 

Distance

Since cat5e and cat6 are made of copper wires, both of them are only available for short distance data transmission. If the cable is used for lower data rate transfer, both cat5e and cat6 cable can support the length of up to 100 m. However, when the data rate achieves the maximum speed, cat5e cable can reach 50 m, while cat6 cable can only reach 37 m.

Cost

In general, cat6 cables are 10 to 20% more expensive than cat5e cables. However, cables are comparatively cheap which makes the cost differences between cat5e and cat6 cables come to be very small portion of the total network budget. Besides, the speed boost offered by cat6 cables usually makes the price premium worthwhile, especially in long run transmission.

Reliability

When installing a network, many users may concern whether there will be electrical interference that can negatively influence the performance of their network. Compared with cat5e cable, cat6 cable has improved reliability that it can deter signal interference from affecting your network. You’ll be able to have a longer and more reliable period of uptime, regardless of how close you are to other network connections in your area. The following table shows some differences between cat5e and cat6 cables.

Conclusion

Cat5e and cat6 cables are two commonly used categories of twisted pair cables. They are different from supporting distance, transmission speed, cost, and reliability. After reading this post, hope you can choose the right one for your project. If you need cat5e, cat6 or other types of twisted pair cables, FS.COM is a good place to go. Besides these copper cables, we also supply a wide range of fiber patch cables with different connectors, such as SC, FC and LC connector. For more information, please visit FS.COM.