Is all Cat5e-rated cable ALSO 350MHz cable? If not, is one better?

[MichaelD]

I ask this b/c I've noticed that some manufacturers say "Cat5e cable" and some say Cat5e 350MHz cable. Are they the same thing, or is the one that says 350MHz better?

I thought that if a cable is rated "Cat5e" that Cat5e is Cat5e across the board? What's the deal?

 

[minendo]

Category 3, 4, 5, etc. Cable Ratings

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks, Minendo.

That article mentions some reasons why 5e is better than 5, but it makes no mention of the "350MHz specificiation." That's what has got me confused.

 

[cmetz]

No.

350MHz is a manufacturers' marketing claim. They claim it has 350MHz of usable bandwidth (presumably, that's the -6dB point at 100m...?), and better performance on other specs. This doesn't, however, mean that it's even up to the cat6 spec, which has 250MHz of usable bandwidth.

This has nothing to do with cat5e, which is a minor extension of cat5.

 

[MichaelD]

Allright, thanks.

But this raises the question: should I return the Cat5e that I bought yesterday and get some that is claimed to be 350MHz cable, or am I fine as is?

Thanks!

 

[Shockwave]

CAT 5: frequencies up to 100 MHz... Voice and data transmission rates up to 100Mbps.

CAT 5e: frequencies up to 100 MHz. CAT 5e components have better transmission performance characteristics than CAT 5 and are most suitable for use in high-speed Gigabit Ethernets. Yes, 100 Mhz.

Thats my whole problem with Cat5e. I'm not much of a cable guy, but to me that looks like marketing at its finest.

 

[MichaelD]

Bump for some more info.

 

[cmetz]

MichaelID, If the 350MHz cable is cat5e also, then it'll work fine, and if you didn't spend a lot more money than you would have for generic cat5e, don't worry about it. The 350MHz cat5e stuff is probably better than the generic stuff, but not THAT much better that I'd spend a whole lot more $$ for it.

Shockwave, there is a bit more than marketing to cat5e: there are some FEXT specs and such that had to be imposed in order to make 1000BaseT work (the specs being chosen such that most cat5 would already comply). So that part is real. The problem is that "Enhanced Category 5" sounds like more than it is, and cable marketing already had a lot of confusing stuff like 350MHz and over-cat5 around such that it's easy to get taken in. Heck, that's what marketing people do, try to convince you that you need something more than you really do.

 

[MichaelD]

Hi Cmetz, thanks for the reply.

The stuff I bought is generic CAT5e. I believe it's made by a company called "General Cable." It is stamped "verified CAT5e" all over the cable, and other than the jacket looking a little thin, it looks pretty good.

And heck, at $50 for a 1000-foot roll, that's not a bad deal. Home Depot to the rescue.

 

[cmetz]

I have that same cable in my house for the secondary-importance runs (important runs are high end stuff - LANMark 2000). It's generic cat5e, it's nothing special, but it works and it's very easy to work with (much more so than the higher-end cable). I've pointed several people at it, it's one of the best cat5e deals around and readily available at basically every HD.

 

[MichaelD]

Cmetz, that's comforting to hear.

I have gone thru the trouble of purchasing good hardware for the cable to work with; Cat5e rated patch panel, a good punch-down tool, 5e-rated Keystone jacks, etc.

Hopefully, all works out well. *crossing fingers*