Cat6 Vs Cat6a

Flake87

Flake87

Flake87

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Something of a technical niche question this.

I have a friend with a few spare rolls of Cat6, which I can have for free, however given the amount of work running cables in conduit /ducting under the floor the cost of this might not be massively important.

The initial run to the powered smart switch will be approx. 15m and from there the longest run could be an additional 20-25m, there will be at least 3 possibly more of this length.

The speed penalty of Cat6 is at 100m where Cat6a maintains speeds, but the question is where is the 100m measured from? The cable router itself or the powered switch?

The current internet speed is at 200 Mbps and the way these speeds have risen over a reasonably short time is quite astonishing, and I wouldn't be surprised to be seeing 1Gbps within the next 5 years.

Obviously this is not something I want to do again so the question is, it worth paying for the Cat6a over the Cat 6?
 
Flake87 said:
The speed penalty of Cat6 is at 100m where Cat6a maintains speeds, but the question is where is the 100m measured from? The cable router itself or the powered switch?
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This is incorrect, for all cables the limit is 100M.

This 100M is between powered devices.

So you could have..

Router > 100M cable > powered switch > 100M cable > Device.
If you had a gigabit PC and switch, then all of these cables would have the same speed if 100M cables were used : Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a etc

Be sure to use patch panels and wall modules, don't just crimp ends on the Cat6 cables. Terminate them correctly.



Another reason to pick Cat6 over Cat6a is the module / patch panel cost.

Cost of modules
Cat5e = £1.50
Cat6 = £3
Cat6a = £4


Cost of patch panels
Cat5e = £25
Cat6 = £40
Cat6a = £90

Time taken to terminate each of of cable
Cat5e = 60 seconds
Cat6 = 70 seconds
Cat6a = 240 seconds (many more layers to cut through, wrap around earth wire etc
 
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If you're doing it with the intention of not redoing it, wire you home for 10 Gb ethernet, not 1 Gb. The distance limit for 10 Gb over Cat 6 is 55m, not 100m. 55m sounds a lot but routing cables carefully and discreetly can use up a lot of distance. For instance, going around a door consumes 5m and in my small flat I had to route one cable around four doors - and then around walls.

Don't skimp; go for the best you can afford, and put in pull strings / wires so you can upgrade later.
 
If you're surface mounting cable why worry about future proofing for 10Gbe?

Most consumer devices are still 100Mbps only (or increasingly wireless only). Gigabit will no doubt become more common, but were a long, long, way from anything that'll require more.

Most people just want a reliable way of distributing their broadband connection, and possibly a bit of internal streaming.

Even the people who have an active interest in getting 10GBe aren't going to need it for every connection.
 
10Gb Ethernet over copper is horrible so if you want to future proof then you really want to be putting in conduit so you can pull fibre in later. Seeing as that is overkill, and assuming you're just using this for Ethernet rather than video senders that happen to use the cable, Cat6 will be more than good enough.
 
Thanks for the replies all very helpful.

It's going under the floorboards, in 20mm conduit / duct. I'm told the difference is that duct is rodent proof and therefore preferable and should always end fastened to a joist so no part of the cable is exposed on the ground. 55m should be OK for what I need, at the moment I'm not planning to run this into the garden although it will need to go into a detached garage.

I'm do find it difficult to believe Cat5e is still being installed often into large public buildings when it's obsolete. I have an electrician friend who routes data cables but doesn't know anything about them, currently re-wiring a school which is planned for demolition next year ! The money wasting in the public sector is simply breath taking!
 
Cat5e has a long way to go before it's obsolete. We only run cat5e unless it's Comms room to Comms room (when fibre isn't required)

How many cables are you planning to put in that conduit?

Cat6a is very thick cable.
 
bledd said:
Cat5e has a long way to go before it's obsolete. We only run cat5e unless it's Comms room to Comms room (when fibre isn't required)

How many cables are you planning to put in that conduit?

Cat6a is very thick cable.
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it's a 20mm conduit so two at most
 
bledd said:
Cat5e has a long way to go before it's obsolete. We only run cat5e unless it's Comms room to Comms room (when fibre isn't required)
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Same - it's easier and cheaper to terminate.

Our Core and comms cabinet switches are all uplinked with 10gb DAC or fibre, and we've recently moved all PCs to have individual connections straight back to comms cabinets rather than 8 port switches at the desktop, and that alone has provided a decent increase in throughput for the few demanding tasks that have needed it.

I think it's still going to be a long time before 10Gb ports ship as standard on desktop machines (if at all), with emerging wifi standards and the push for faster/cheaper networking standards 25/50/100Gb, it may be that 10Gb/Cat6a is obsolete before it is even commonly deployed
 
WiFi is iffy especially in steel framed buildings, and it's too easy to use a blocker for it to be taken seriously for any security application.
 
True, but as far as I can see irrelevant. I can't think of anything security related that's going to work any better if you use Cat6 instead of Cat6 (or even Cat5e).
 
I am currently helping a mate out who has a contract in wiring two new schools and everything is cat7. Hateful stuff.

Just stupid using anything other than cat5e/6. I have seen fools using cat7 for cctv when cat5e is still perfect.
 
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