What's the point of Cat6 if it only does 1gig like Cat5e?

[JEDI]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat6

Why was Cat6 developed if there's no speed improvement over Cat5e?

 

[skyking]

from your own link: "It is expected to suit the 10GBASE-T (10Gigabit Ethernet) standard, although with limitations on length if unshielded Cat 6 cable is used. Category 6 cable can be identified by the printing on the side of the cable sheath.[1]"

 

[kevnich2]

CAT6 is better cable than CAT5e and when 10GbE comes out, CAT5e won't handle that but CAT6 will

 

[JackMDS]

The point is known as Future Time Perspective.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: kevnich2
CAT6 is better cable than CAT5e and when 10GbE comes out, CAT5e won't handle that but CAT6 will

so why not release Cat6 when it's ready to do 10gig?
and continue using Cat5e till then?

 

[spidey07]

Because cat5e isn't fully scanned to 250 Mhz. Cat6 is and it was developed with 10 gig in mind. The category specifications call for a base baudrate they are designed to operate upto. Cat6 takes into account those higher frequencies. Cat6a is scanned even higher (500 Mhz I think).

I'm pretty sure Cat6 and Cat6a address what has been holding back speeds - alien crosstalk from other cables.

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: kevnich2
CAT6 is better cable than CAT5e and when 10GbE comes out, CAT5e won't handle that but CAT6 will

so why not release Cat6 when it's ready to do 10gig?
and continue using Cat5e till then?

If you have existing Cat5e cable already installed, you can continue using it for Gigabit connections. If you are installing new cable, install Cat6 so that you can use Gigabit now and 10 gig when it is available and only have to install new cable once.

 

[ScottMac]

Also, keep in mind the concept of Structured Cabling. This stuff is / can be used for more than just networking. THere are adapters and baluns for nearly any signaling application that uses cabling.

A cable that is more capable expands and improves the quality of transmission of all signals, not just Ethernet Networking.

 

[Lemon law]

I have to agree with the original thread contention, why string cat6 now, when you do not have anything close to a cat 6 internet capacity in that hypothetical new house few can afford to buy now?

On one hand, one may have the false illusion that you are future proofed with cat6 when those 100+ megabits/ second connection come out for little extra money now , but it also ignores something, namely the unknowable future.

Simply because the faster internet connections of the future may depend on on some other technology than cat6, be it fiber optic or some other type of cabling. So were I building a new house now, I would want to insure that I have cabling that can be replaced by another type, without the need of tearing out the walls to get at the older connections. So I would want to route my connections through plastic piping, so I could easily replace what I have when the that future need arises.

 

[kevnich2]

Originally posted by: Lemon law
I have to agree with the original thread contention, why string cat6 now, when you do not have anything close to a cat 6 internet capacity in that hypothetical new house few can afford to buy now?

On one hand, one may have the false illusion that you are future proofed with cat6 when those 100+ megabits/ second connection come out for little extra money now , but it also ignores something, namely the unknowable future.

Simply because the faster internet connections of the future may depend on on some other technology than cat6, be it fiber optic or some other type of cabling. So were I building a new house now, I would want to insure that I have cabling that can be replaced by another type, without the need of tearing out the walls to get at the older connections. So I would want to route my connections through plastic piping, so I could easily replace what I have when the that future need arises.

You do realize people use their internal network for more than JUST internet, right?? And as far as internet being carried in on fiber optics, yes, it most likely will be, then from the ONT it will be transferred over to ethernet. The whole point is future proofing. Install now with Cat6a and you'll be ready for the future when 10gbE does come out. I personally don't see the need to install fiber optics for internal networking, cat6 will take care of future speeds on my network. WAN's will be carried thru fiber where LAN will continue to be carried on ethernet cable due to the various uses of the cabling.

 

[theanimala]

What's the big deal? Cat 6 costs like pennies more then Cat 5 from places like Monoprice. I just ran Cat6 for my gig-e home network and I am planning on being future proofed.

 

[Eug]

I just ran CAT5e because dealing with CAT6 was a pain, and it cost more.

Mind you, the way I've run my stuff, it wouldn't be that hard to replace it in 10 years time or whatever.

 

[JackMDS]

Do not know about Canada, or any other country, but in the USA the price difference between the Cat5e and Cat6 is either not existing or pennies.

Since the proper way is to put runs is to terminated them into Keystones, and use commercial made patches from the wall to the Network devices there is No reason to think that it is harder to use CAT6.

This whole thread reminds me the Historical stories of Horses owners, against Car's usage at the turn of the 20th Century.

 

[taltamir]

1. Cat6 now costs pennies more than cat5e... if someone charges twice as much to install it they are ripping you off.
2. Back in the day EARLY 1gbps switchers / ethernet cards required cat6 to operate... the very first ones you could buy... as the technology matured they were able to operate on cat5e... nowadays there are some really expensive ones that can operate on cat5 (not e) which is normally thought of as 10mbps only...
3. There are slightly less dropped packages due to slightly lower interference, resulting in a small speed increase.
4. You don't have to start replacing cables in a few years when 10gbps becomes norm.
5. The standard requirements improved structure for cat6 and make it a more reliable cable.

 

[SoulAssassin]

From the datacenter perspective, as others have said, the cost between two is minimal. The cost to rewire your datacenter to cat6 if you did cat5 now is massive.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
From the datacenter perspective, as others have said, the cost between two is minimal. The cost to rewire your datacenter to cat6 if you did cat5 now is massive.

Just to add the cost to wire a datacenter is ALWAYS done with the best cable available fiber and copper. Cat6a is the norm for a datacenter in the last few years. People that skimp here find the costs later to me very large.

 

[cmetz]

JEDI, the delta cost between cat5e and cat6a is not that much money compared to the labor costs and disruption costs of pulling it out and rewiring.

Just like everything else in computing, there's a bigger better choice available for those who want to try to have more capacity now and be more future-proof, and there are mainstream value choices available for those who want the most for their buck today.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: cmetz
JEDI, the delta cost between cat5e and cat6a is not that much money compared to the labor costs and disruption costs of pulling it out and rewiring.

Just like everything else in computing, there's a bigger better choice available for those who want to try to have more capacity now and be more future-proof, and there are mainstream value choices available for those who want the most for their buck today.

my argument is NOT costs.

It's why was Cat6 released in the first place since it's the same speed at cat5e (1gig)? It seems pointless.

Why not wait till cat6 can do 10gig before releasing it? (instead of creating another name when 10gig comes out aka cat6a.)

 

[spidey07]

JEDI, I already answered your question. They are not the same speed.

To your point it's a chicken and egg scenario. Cat 5anything is a 100 Mhz cable that is almost 15 years old. All category cabling was meant to meet a specific need - more speed.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: cmetz
JEDI, the delta cost between cat5e and cat6a is not that much money compared to the labor costs and disruption costs of pulling it out and rewiring.

Just like everything else in computing, there's a bigger better choice available for those who want to try to have more capacity now and be more future-proof, and there are mainstream value choices available for those who want the most for their buck today.

my argument is NOT costs.

It's why was Cat6 released in the first place since it's the same speed at cat5e (1gig)? It seems pointless.

Why not wait till cat6 can do 10gig before releasing it? (instead of creating another name when 10gig comes out aka cat6a.)

cat6 will do 10gig right now for a length of 60 meters. Not cat6a, just plain old vanilla cat6.
All of the installs I have done lately did not exceed the 60 meter limitation. If it was more than 60 meters I was generally running fiber to another switch closet anyway.

 

[Eug]

It's not just cost, but also practical issues. If you want to do a CAT5e install, you just go and get the stuff and install it.

If you want to do a CAT6a install, and esp. if you're just an end user like me with no corporate account, it's much more of a pain to find the stuff locally and the stuff costs a lot more. Sure standard indoor cable is not that much more, but the jacks and plugs are a lot more. Also, the colour choices for indoor stuff are much more limited, if that matters to you. Furthermore, the outdoor stuff is also significantly more and quite hard to find in stock locally, especially if you don't need 1000 feet of it.

I personally had full intent to do a CAT6a install, but finally just gave up because it was annoying. Nobody around here who sold directly to consumers (like me) had outdoor flooded CAT6a or CAT6 in stock. In fact, none would even order outdoor flooded CAT6a or CAT6 for me. It was either outdoor flooded CAT5e or nothing. I almost ordered some outdoor flooded CAT6 online because the cost wasn't bad and the shipping was somewhat reasonable, but I'm glad I didn't, because it turns out it was 23 AWG, which wouldn't work with my CAT5e terminators either. The other eBayers that had CAT6 24 AWG cable charged way too much for shipping. (I'm in Canada.) The shipping cost just as much as the cable, essentially doubling the price... which was already more expensive than CAT5e.

Inside, I had existing small wall surface conduits in the house. It's a lot easier to stick two CAT5e cables in them than two CAT6 cables. Yes the thickness difference can really be that much.

I still think it's smartest to go CAT6a for in-wall stuff, but be prepared and get everything in advance, and be prepared to read all the details of the specs. If you're looking to save some cash, make sure you get 24 AWG stuff and terminate with CAT5e jacks which are cheap as borscht and available everywhere.

In my case I'm not too worried about future proofing though, since the only in-wall stuff is through walls. It would be easy to replace when needed. The outdoor stuff runs outside along the side of the house, and is not buried. (I went with the flooded cable though because it's close to the ground, and would be covered by snow many months of the year.) The inside wall surface conduits would have to be replaced with larger ones if I decide to go with CAT6a, but I may as well wait until I actually need to do that. The smaller conduits look nicer, and are already there anyway so there's no point in wasting money now to replace them when all I really need are < 100 Mbps speeds at this time.

 

[JackMDS]

Let me tell you a story.

According research on the development of the Human species, few Millions years ago there where human like people that live on the planet and survive for about a million years.

During all of this time they never developed, or discover anything. They did not even use Rocks and Sticks as Tools.

They disappeared and the next line of humanoids where the one that discovered that Rocks and sticks can be use as Tools, and the rest is History.

We are the product of the Discovering type Homosepians.

 

[theanimala]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Let me tell you a story.

According research on the development of the Human species, few Millions years ago there where human like people that live on the planet and survive for about a million years.

During all of this time they never developed, or discover anything. They did not even use Rocks and Sticks as Tools.

They disappeared and the next line of humanoids where the one that discovered that Rocks and sticks can be use as Tools, and the rest is History.

We are the product of the Discovering type Homosepians.

So you are saying we should only run cat6? Thanks, got it.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: theanimala
So you are saying we should only run cat6? Thanks, got it.

Cat6a actually. Do it once, do it right.

 

[Eug]

So, fast forward 1.5 years later...

I rewired part of my basement - in wall, because I'm doing a reno. I dunno where you guys get your cabling, but around here CAT6a is still about 2-3X the price of CAT5e. I'm just an end user and the local computer and electronics supply shops don't carry 6A in stock. The electronics supply stores can order it but it's pretty expensive, and only comes in boxes of 1000'. So, if you want only 500', you're paying 4-5X as much as CAT5e, because it costs 2-3X as much per foot, and you have to buy a minimum of 1000'. And you have to wait a week to get it, which is a hassle when the contractors want to put up the drywall.

The place to get CAT6a cheaply is online, but shipping is still horrendously expensive, sometimes even 3-digit $$$ to Canada, which defeats the point. (Actually, I think they do that on purpose. They make it look cheap to get hits, but then overcharge on the shipping to make up the difference.)

I did find some CAT6 for only a bit more than CAT5e, so I'm sure much to the dismay of some of you here, I just used 6, not 6A.

And for outdoor cable here, it's still CAT5e, or sometimes CAT6, or else pay a fortune for CAT6a. I'm thinking of adding an outdoor line to my gazebo where I'll have an IP camera. I do have powerline networking there and it works, but the speeds are not 100&#37; stable, and it's really easy to get 250' of outdoor CAT5e for really cheap.

So, I agree that 6a is the best for future proofing, but I will also reemphasize that for small home jobs, it can be a fair bit more expensive and annoying, because it really only becomes more cost efficient if you have better access to good cable pricing and you need large amounts.

Since my previous post in 2009, CAT6 has become far more common than it was back then. However, CAT6a is still an issue. I hope that it will no longer be a problem by 2012.