CAT5e, CAT6, CAT7 Connections

[BuyANet]

Good Morning!

I have a question in regards to a surefire way to figure out if a cable is CAT5e, CAT6, or CAT7.

Now I know CAT5e and CAT6 have a difference RJ45 connector, mainly CAT6 is "staggered" whereas CAT5e is straight across the Pins.

If a CAT6 cable is put into a CAT5e connector, would that even work?

Also, does CAT7 have it's own connector? Does it use CAT5e connector or CAT6 (staggered)?

The reason I ask is because I just purchased some more CAT6 cable on Amazon, it's not here yet but I saw a review where someone said it doesn't use a CAT6 connector, so it must be a CAT5e cable even though the sheathing says CAT6.

I then looked at my current CAT7 cable, and the connector is a straight line (like a CAT5e).

Thank You!

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The staggered design is optional - it helps reduce crosstalk, but isn't a requirement of the standard.

It's presumably possible to meet the electrical/noise standards with a wide variety of connector styles, and it's possible the manufacturer of the cables found that "5e-style" connectors were sufficient in their testing. It's also possible it's a fly-by-night place that didn't sufficiently test their stuff.

Buy cables from MonoPrice. Don't think twice. (Haha rhyming!)

 

[BuyANet]

The staggered design is optional - it helps reduce crosstalk, but isn't a requirement of the standard.

It's presumably possible to meet the electrical/noise standards with a wide variety of connector styles, and it's possible the manufacturer of the cables found that "5e-style" connectors were sufficient in their testing. It's also possible it's a fly-by-night place that didn't sufficiently test their stuff.

Buy cables from MonoPrice. Don't think twice. (Haha rhyming!)

Thanks for the reply! So the connector used isn't a foolproof way to identify the correct cable type, huh? Anything else to look at short of cutting the ends off and looking at the individual cables?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks for the reply! So the connector used isn't a foolproof way to identify the correct cable type, huh? Anything else to look at short of cutting the ends off and looking at the individual cables?

Umm... no, you usually can't tell that way either. (All 4-pair UTP looks basically the same inside.) Cat6 cabling will sometimes/usually have thicker wires to reduce resistance, but if you can tell the difference between 23ga, 24ga, and 25ga wiring just by looking, you're something special.

I've never used one (just the cheap continuity testers) but the higher-end cable testers (Fluke, etc.) can check a cable for compliance w/ a given spec. But those testers are hundreds or thousands of dollars, and are generally the domain of professional cable installers.

Us non-IT-Pros just have to go by whatever's written on the jacket and trust the retailer. Hence why I'd choose MonoPrice over some Amazon storefront that will disappear in a couple months and got their cabling from who-the-heck-knows-where.

 

[Omegaboost]

From my experience, there are a lot of fake "cat7" cables out there. The sellers might say it's cat7 but it doesn't pass cat7 tests. Your cat7 cable is probably a fake.

 

[13Gigatons]

Why is this really an issue ?

Patch cables either work or they don't. I've used cheap 5e cables and expensive cat 6 ones and they all did the job. If you need mission critical patch cables then you need to buy from a known vendor: https://www.showmecables.com/by-category/cables/cat5e-cat6-cat7

 

[BuyANet]

Why is this really an issue ?

Patch cables either work or they don't. I've used cheap 5e cables and expensive cat 6 ones and they all did the job. If you need mission critical patch cables then you need to buy from a known vendor: https://www.showmecables.com/by-category/cables/cat5e-cat6-cat7

Rerunning wires from my Fiber connection box to the modem, and from modem to router.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Rerunning wires from my Fiber connection box to the modem, and from modem to router.

Where are the box, modem, and router in relation to each other? What's the maximum speed your hardware supports? (10GbE?)

If your connection speed is <= 1GbE, then 5e will work fine and you can just use whatever.