CAT6 cables really justifiable for internet usage?

lettuce

lettuce

lettuce

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Bedfordshire, UK.
Are CAT6 cables really needed for the foreseeable future where residential Broadband is concerned?
Now i know CAT5 tops out at approx 100 Megabytes (MB) and for example one of Virgin Media's top BB package is really approx 24 Megabytes (advertised as 200 Mb) will BB speeds really advance so much that their speeds outstrip the capacity of a CAT5 cable over say the next 5-10 years?
 
There's no reason to buy Cat5e over Cat6, the price points are so similar to each other now and the performance requirements tend to result in a higher quality product.
 
5e is supposedly better at taking physical abuse, so it might be the better option if the cable run is awkward. If it isn't, spend the extra pennies on the higher quality product.
 
Cat5 doesn't really exist any more, so ignore anything you read on that.
Cat5e does 1000Mbps up to 100 metres and 10,000Mbps up to 40 metres.
Cat6 does 1000Mbps up to 100 metres and 10,000Mbps up to 40-70 metres.

Then Cat6 shielded and Cat7 etc increase the 10,000 figure further.


Running cables to new wall ports at an existing house, I'd use Cat5e. Maybe Cat6 if they're easy access runs.
Brand new build, Cat6 all the way.


Cat5e is much smaller and easier to manoeuvre.
 
5e for older houses, new build then cat6 for future proofing, 6 isn't required for daily use atm.
 
lettuce said:
Are CAT6 cables really needed for the foreseeable future where residential Broadband is concerned?
Now i know CAT5 tops out at approx 100 Megabytes (MB) and for example one of Virgin Media's top BB package is really approx 24 Megabytes (advertised as 200 Mb) will BB speeds really advance so much that their speeds outstrip the capacity of a CAT5 cable over say the next 5-10 years?
Click to expand...

Both rated speeds on cat and broadband speed is advertised as bits, not bytes. Cat5e can do 1 gigabit just fine at =<100m and easily covers Virgin's 200 megabit.

The only time you'll see byte used is if you're transferring something over the network/internet.

5e is easier to work with but 6 will help if we ever get broadband faster than 1gb. Which is years away for a lot of the country...
 
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