Cat 5e, Cat 6 or Cat 6a for home networking

[Harnser]

The Official Home Networking FAQ is great, but one area it differs from many responses on this forum is the speed of network cabling to use.

The FAQ says:

Category 5e – Providing up-to 1G (2.5G in future) connections at a max channel length of 100M this is the lowest grade on my list, but, this is sufficient for 99% of applications, it is the cheapest, easiest to install and will provide you with suitable bandwidth for many years to come.

Category 6 – The bigger brother to Category 5e is Category 6, it has a larger conductor size, this is the actual metallic conductor in the cable, it also has a plastic divider which divides each pair from each other in-turn reducing cross-talk. In simple terms, this means it's thicker but is better at carrying Power over Ethernet (PoE) and can carry higher bandwidth applications.

Category 6A – The last cable I'll mention will offer up-to 10G bandwidth, however this cable is extremely overkill in the average home and if you are installing this throughout it is going to cause many headaches due to it's larger cable size and more difficult termination.

A majority of replies on this forum say "Install Cat 6 to future-proof". So can we make this guidance more concrete: in what situations is Cat 5e not enough?

I'm about to wire up my house and was going to go Cat 5e because because it's easier to terminate and route. Most tasks I do (backup over network, access NAS) are limited by drive speed rather than the network (I'm not backing up TBs to SSDs yet). But in a decade..?

Media is potentially the only reason I see to go faster; move that noisy Blueray player from beside the TV and put it in another room, and stream over the network.

 

[andy_mk3]

I think it's wise to go cat6 on a proper installation that might be difficult to upgrade in future.

That being said, 5e should be capable of 10Gb speeds up to around 40m runs so will most likely be fine.

 

[ChrisD.]

I use 5e and run 10 Gb around the house and I’ve had no issues.

 

[Dg834man]

A majority of replies on this forum say "Install Cat 6 to future-proof". So can we make this guidance more concrete: in what situations is Cat 5e not enough?

Think its because cat6 isnt much more expensive than cat5e and half the price of cat6a makes it the best choice

 

[SirPorkington]

Think its because cat6 isnt much more expensive than cat5e and half the price of cat6a makes it the best choice

Exactly the reason I ran cat6 around my house. The price difference was so small when buying 305m, and having a bad experience replacing a load of 'cat5e' CCA cable at work, it was worth it just to not have to worry about replacement any time soon.

 

[andy_mk3]

Plus cat6 isn't too difficult to route or terminate.

 

[crazyDAJT]

Go with CAT6 solid copper cables, avoid CCA.

it’s much easier to work with than CAT6a (almost the same as CAT5e)

can run 10g officially up to 55m. So it’s unlikely you will need longer runs in a home environment.

 

[Cooler running]

Always go as high on the networking cables as possible when doing a home install.

Even if you see no usage out of it, said will look good when you come to sell the property.

 

[WJA96]

The Official Home Networking FAQ is great, but one area it differs from many responses on this forum is the speed of network cabling to use.

The FAQ says:


A majority of replies on this forum say "Install Cat 6 to future-proof". So can we make this guidance more concrete: in what situations is Cat 5e not enough?

I'm about to wire up my house and was going to go Cat 5e because because it's easier to terminate and route. Most tasks I do (backup over network, access NAS) are limited by drive speed rather than the network (I'm not backing up TBs to SSDs yet). But in a decade..?

Media is potentially the only reason I see to go faster; move that noisy Blueray player from beside the TV and put it in another room, and stream over the network.

I don’t see a contradiction personally. The reality is that although CAT6 is the lowest cable rating to officially support 10GbE speeds, CAT5e with all 8-cores terminated works at 10GbE in most cases. And while CAT6a is significantly harder to work, there is some performance improvement under very defined conditions (not usually found in a home network). So if I was specifying a job for a customer and I wanted to have a competitively low quote, I’d quote on CAT5e but if I was putting cable into my own home (as I have) I’d specify CAT6 because it’s guaranteed to do 10GbE over the distances in my home and for longer runs (like to the bottom of my parents driveway) I’d run fibre and put in converters.

I had a customer INSIST (and he was very certain about this) that I install CAT6 for his 100Mbps interface 4K/8MP surveillance cameras. I did it, but it was total overkill and it cost the customer an extra £50 or so on the job. Will there ever be a surveillance camera that needs a 10GbE connection? Maybe, but it’s pretty unlikely.

 

[mikehhhhhhh]

I have CAT6 everywhere, including CCTV cameras, mostly because it was easier than explaining to my electrician friend doing the cable runs that I wanted different cables in different places, but also for some flexibility.

Case in point; I quickly used up my spare cable in the loft when BTOR had to install my FTTP in a different place than I had intended. When I then decided to change plans on AP locations and needed more ethernet in the loft, I was able to put a switch on one of the CCTV camera cables and I suspect that in the future, having 10gbit to the loft may prove useful.

The only different cable I have is some outdoor stuff for just one small run that isn't run in conduit.

CAT6 seemed like the best value for me and considering that the majority of the cost is labour, it made sense even if cat5e will do the job.

I don't really get the comments about cat5e being easier to work with, though. While I acknowledge it's a little easier, the extra effort is so minimal and you've only got to do it once!

 

[Avalon]

As we have seen time and time again from people who actually run 10Gb over 5e, it works over very similar distances to 6. You really need 6a to gain any significant potential, and it’s more annoying to work with in a compliant manner. Given the glacial pace of networking speeds and the tragedy of moving to NBASE-T, I suspect the next jump after 10Gb will be the same in a decade as it is now - fibre.

 

[Scam]

Just jumping in here if you don't mind. We (hopefully!) complete on our small terraced house on Monday and we've booked an electrician to come round, take a general look and see if anything needs improving. Part of my list will be asking about running ethernet. Primarily from lounge (where Sky comes in) to bedroom 2 (soon to be the office when we convert the loft), but then I guess it'll escalate from there and I'll think about running through to the dining room (for music/hifi), and then up to the loft room as well...

We'll have Sky fibre ~80Mbps and don't really envisage needing more than that for the foreseeable future. Fair enough to say cat5e would be fine for our purposes then right? It's a small house, 4-6m wide and 8-11m deep looking at the floorplan.

 

[ChrisD.]

Ensure the electrician has experience with cat5e and above cabling. I've seen so many bodges.

 

[Avalon]

5e is good for 10Gb over typical residential distances, electricians aren’t usually the best or cheapest people to install it.

 

[ChrisD.]

You're better off with a home AV/alarm/CCTV installer over an electrician.

 

[Scam]

Ok noted thanks. I had no idea, assumed it would make sense if he's doing rewiring, fitting new sockets etc

Argh yet another tradesman to find/research

 

[Avalon]

Ok noted thanks. I had no idea, assumed it would make sense if he's doing rewiring, fitting new sockets etc

Argh yet another tradesman to find/research

I would still get a price for the additional work, but expect it to be disproportionate to what’s required.

 

[Scam]

I would still get a price for the additional work, but expect it to be disproportionate to what’s required.

Not to derail the thread but what would be a ballpark for running cat5e around a very small London terraced house?

 

[WJA96]

Not to derail the thread but what would be a ballpark for running cat5e around a very small London terraced house?

The problem, put simply, is LONDON PRICES. We charge a basic rate of £35+VAT per hour for labour and materials are effectively at cost. But we're in Norfolk. I'd say in London you could be looking at 80+VAT for labour. And it's probably 4-8 hours work. Cable is £0.20-£0.50+VAT per meter and I'd guess at probably under 100m for a small house with multiple drops run externally. Less if you're running internally. Then £5-£10+VAT per wall box (it doesn't really matter if it's 1,2,3 or 4 RJ45 sockets). If you're doing it correctly then £100+VAT for a wall mounted frame and patch panel. Somewhere between £500 and £1500 depending on exactly what you wanted. And before you ask - no, we don't come to London because, well.... London .

 

[Troezar]

I've been wondering about this. 5e is looking the best option for a normal house at speeds up to 10Gb. I presume it's not too difficult to install?