Cat6e?

oldestgregg · 17 Nov 2012 at 19:36

Hi.I currently have standard copper cable internet from o2 and the router is downstairs,while my pc is upstairs.i run a cat5 ethernet cable (50m)through the roof and all is fine.However,I am getting bt fibre next week and was wondering-

1/ Will the fact the cable is 50m degrade the signal in any way? and
2/ will a cat6e cable make any noticeable difference?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.Please excuse any naivety before its pointed out

p.s-speed for fibre is 78mg down/20 up

Addicted · 17 Nov 2012 at 19:37

I'm no networking person, but I think Cat5e degrades after about 100m, but don't quote me.

GhostlyPea · 17 Nov 2012 at 19:39

You'll be fine up to 100m with Cat5e.

- GP

Steveocee · 17 Nov 2012 at 19:48

For the price difference, I'd say go cat6 just for some future proofedness.

Scougar · 17 Nov 2012 at 19:50

BTW.. it's not meg... it's Megabits, which is about 9 to 10MB. If you are running a gigabit router and a gigabit Ethernet port on your pc, then you will in no way be able to saturate that 5e. Even with 100T you'd not saturate it. 50m of decent quality CAT5E will be more than enough.

50M is hell of a long way btw.. have you got it coiled up in the loft or something?

passey89 · 17 Nov 2012 at 20:56

i just got cat6e forvmy powerline as its not expensive.

cat6 will on'y be better if there is a lot of interference around the cable as each cable is individually protected.

also cat5 is 1gbps
cat6 is 10gbps

so future proof is always better

but you wnt notice much if any difference now

bremen1874 · 18 Nov 2012 at 00:12

Cat6e doesn't exist as a standard, there's no reason to expect it to be any better that cat5e. It could even be worse as there's no standard to work to.

Cat6, or cat6a, are real standards and will support higher bandwidths than cat5e.

In a domestic network anything beyond standard gigabit is so far away it's not worth worrying about. The one possible reason to install cat6(a) is if the cabling might be used for hdmi senders, in which case make sure the cables are installed in pairs.

unleashed · 18 Nov 2012 at 00:15

passey89 said:
i just got cat6e forvmy powerline as its not expensive.

Wow, a powerline that can make use of cat 6e...tell me more :eek:

oldestgregg · 18 Nov 2012 at 01:46

Thank you very much for the replies.very helpful and yes it is coiled round under the wardrobe where it enters the bedroom (ooh er!) but only because im lazy and havnt bought a shorter cable yet

passey89 · 18 Nov 2012 at 06:28

unleashed said:
Wow, a powerline that can make use of cat 6e...tell me more

it doesn't use it just didn't trust crappy cable that you get with the powerlines and was only £3 for 2 X 4m lots of it.

Just can't say its the cables thats slowing my LAN down now

axer · 18 Nov 2012 at 07:50

From experience, decent quality Cat5 can do greater than 100M at Gigabit still so your 50M will pose no problem at all. Don't waste your time or money replacing this as you'll not notice any benefits unless your already have issues (e.g. poor quality cable, interference due to lack of shielding or poor termination)

tigerstyle · 18 Nov 2012 at 14:19

passey89 said:
but you wnt notice much if any difference now

Well as stated in this thread it'll be impossible to tell the difference, as decent Cat5 is more than up to the job already.

I'm not a fan of the wishy washy 'well it might be better/its a higher number so must be faster' approach to PCs

passey89 · 18 Nov 2012 at 18:07

tigerstyle said:
Well as stated in this thread it'll be impossible to tell the difference, as decent Cat5 is more than up to the job already.

I'm not a fan of the wishy washy 'well it might be better/its a higher number so must be faster' approach to PCs

its pretty harf to test though.

cat 5 is 1gbps which is standard router and modem si easy to test.

cat 6 is 10 gbps but u find a router and modem that supports 10gbps.

the only way your gonna know is run lan tests now and put cat6 in then try again.

Nightglow · 19 Nov 2012 at 09:07

passey89 said:
its pretty harf to test though.
cat 5 is 1gbps which is standard router and modem si easy to test.
cat 6 is 10 gbps but u find a router and modem that supports 10gbps.

Remember Cat 5 is rated to 100 Mbps, whereas Cat 5e ensure 1Gb.

ots3go · 19 Nov 2012 at 09:49

Cat5 - Don't use ever, it's obsolete.
Cat5e - 1gb up to 50M.
Cat6 - 10gb up to 50M.
Cat6a - 10gb up to 100M.

IIRC anyway.

.

Laser402 · 19 Nov 2012 at 13:27

ots3go said:
Cat5 - Don't use ever, it's obsolete.
Cat5e - 1gb up to 50M.
Cat6 - 10gb up to 50M.
Cat6a - 10gb up to 100M.

IIRC anyway. .

Cat5e will do 100m @ 1Gbps

bertles86 · 19 Nov 2012 at 16:38

Cat5e is fine for Gigabit transfer up to 100m guaranteed.

Shorter the length of your cable, the faster it transfers the data as it is a shorter distance.

Don't bother with Cat6, unnecessary.

Buy a new, fresh Cat5e pre terminated patch lead with no kinks or knots and make sure it is good quality with high copper content. You can normally tell this by the price.

bremen1874 · 19 Nov 2012 at 18:04

bertles86 said:
Shorter the length of your cable, the faster it transfers the data as it is a shorter distance.

As the signal travels at a fair proportion of the speed of light you're going to struggle to notice any difference related to the cable length.

Sparx · 19 Nov 2012 at 21:10

I use pure Cat6 cabling in my house because I like to stay future proofed.

The difference in cost to Cat5e is next to nothing..

passey89 · 20 Nov 2012 at 06:27

Sparx said:
I use pure Cat6 cabling in my house because I like to stay future proofed.

The difference in cost to Cat5e is next to nothing..

+1 exactly what i was saying there isn't much in the cost tbh.

I just ordered all the Cat6 I need to replace all my cat5e now as it cost me about £5.