Cat5 or Cat 6

Would someone tell me the difference between Cat5 and Cat6 cable? We are constructing a new building and I need to decide which would be best.

 

Does this help?

 

This article states that cat6 is not approved yet. My vendor is making it an option for me to purchase.

 

More info on Cat6 than you ever wanted to know here.

 

It is not a simple question to answer - it depends.

First thing to consider is that cabling is a long term investment. As far as hardware is concerned only monitors come close for longevity. You need to be thinking of an investment for something in the order of 10 years.

Second poor cabling has a significant impact on network performance and cable faults can be very time consuming to track down (broken cable easy; excessive noise on a cable very hard). Getting the cabling solution right is something that is worth the effort every time.

CAT5e and CAT6 are both good. However, they are only as good as the guy who installs them. Invest in a good network cabler. Don't expect the guy who installed your lights to do the job as well (unless he happens to be a network cabler).

CAT5e is perfectly adequate for 10/100 Mb/s and will handle Gigabit with some distance constraints. So if you are certain that your end users will be happy with 100Mb/s for the next ten years with some limited Gigabit in the server room and perhaps to key areas (backbone for example) then CAT5e will do.

If you cannot be certain, CAT6 may be the way to go but it is more expensive. However, less expensive than in 5 years time ripping out the CAT5e to install CAT6. So long term budgetry constraints are an important consideration.

Three years ago I would have said the case for CAT6 was strong as gigabit to desktop seemed likely five years down the line. Three years later I am not so sure. A lot of the networks I see seem to work perfectly well at 100Mb/s and there seems to be less of a push toward gigabit to desktop. So it is not a clear descision in my opinion. If your users are in the main, normal office workers CAT5e could well be fine. If they use CAD a lot, or large multimedia files (or datastreams) CAT6 would be a good idea.

 

If you go CAT6

On rereading I thought it worth highlighting a key point:

Invest in a good cabler. Connecting CAT6 connectors to CAT6 cable does not necessarily result in a CAT6 solution. To get the top performance (which after all is what you are investing in by paying the CAT6 premium) the tolerances have been reduced. Tighten the cable ties too much so they pinch the cable, install lengths with over tight bends, straighten the cable too much when connecting the end connectors and CAT6 won't perform to specification. You will end up paying for CAT6 but getting no better performance than CAT5e - that is you start increasing network speeds to gigabit and beyond and you find you are getting drop outs and slow links.

Use an accredited network cabler. Ask to see some of his/her previous work. Make sure it is tidy, that cable ties don't pinch the cable, that cable runs don't run along side mains cables. Make sure there is no fine inner cable showing between the grey main outer shielding and the connectors. Cables should terminate at wall sockets - not go straight into the PC.

With CAT5e you can get away with a little poor workmanship (though personally I'd look for the same level of skill from someone installing CAT5e). With CAT6 you can't!!!

 

The installer should have a minimum of one of these.

http://www.flukenetworks.com/us/Cabling/Copper+Cabling/PentaScanner/Overview.htm

 

Let me add a little confusion to the mix.

First the installer piece - any good cable installer will have a device (like the Fluke mentioned above) that can test a piece of cable /w the connectors and say if it is Cat6 quality or something less. The installer can then certify in writing that you have Cat6 quality so if something doesn't work right, you can make the company re-do the work.

Next - even though Cat6 will certainly allow higher speed traffic (although it will not make 100Mbps traffic any faster), the trend I'm seeing for connections that need to be really fast and really clean is fiber. Costs more but works better. So if you need to move to high speed in a year or two or three you may be looking at having your cable plant replaced anyway.

At this point in time I'm not sure if anyone without a good, working crystal ball can say where network speeds are headed or over what media. Long runs will for sure be fiber. And the fairly new single-mode fiber looks promising.

Basically, you aren't going to be able to get a concrete answer to your Cat5e vs. Cat6 question. My leaning if I were having a new cable plant run would be to strongly consider Cat6 but if the cost were too much higher than a Cat5e setup, to stay with Cat5e. It sorta boils down to how much extra you are willing to pay for something that is absolutely 'better' but might not bring you any real benefit.

 

But how does the average punter destinguish between a good cable testing device and a bad one? (The Fluke testers I've used rate up there with in the Good BTW.) Anyone can buy a continuity tester that will tell you that you've connected the cables up to the right connections, but that doesn't mean the cable install is up to CAT6.

Getting the contractor back in to correct a problem is a last resort and certianly should not be considered as a safety net.

1. Tracking down a cabling fault (something like interference from a nearby mains cable, or copper cable running near a MIG welder) will cost you a lot of wasted time and money.

2. How certain are you that the cabling company will still be in business when the problem manifests?

Fibre is a good option where you know you want higher speeds. Backbone, and server room definitely. It is the only option (other than wireless) for connecting between buildings). However, you are going to need specialist NICs if you want to take it to desktop (whereas it is difficult to buy a computer nowaday that doesn't have at least a 100BaseT NIC). That's a significant increase in the investment.

I've heard the "fibre to desktop" line pushed for longer than the "CAT6 to desktop ", and we only seem to be a little bit closer.

My conclusion would be: Get the best cabling you can afford and get it installed by an accredited cabler. I'd recommend CAT5e installed by a good cabler over CAT6 installed by a standard electrician.

 

I'll throw in my 2p (or about 1 teaspoon full of oil at current prices )

CAT6 is an epithet applied to the whole installation. As has been said you MUST get someone who knows their job or your CAT6 cable will turn into a CAT3 install.

CAT5e works fine for gigabit to the desktop providing the runs are to spec (see previous point of getting someone who knows what they are doing). The cost of gigabit to the desktop is dropping (most major players have gigabit NICs in their products - HP/Compaq, Dell, IBM) but you'll still pay a premium at the switch end

The switch market is saturated at the Layer 2 10/100 entry point so the main players are working on layer 3/4 and on high density gigabit alongside convergence with VOIP etc

I'd love to say I have an answer but I dont - however the cost of CAT6 cable to CAT5e is negligible nowadays and the install should be similar so I'd future proof myself a little further and go for 6. Definitely fibre between buildings/floors/cabinets/switches though

The possibly more interesting question is what do to in the switching cabinets but I leave that debate for another day...