Select Cat5e Or Cat6 Cables System
The selection between cat5e and cat6 network cable.
1. The table below is the electrical performance comparison between Cat5e and Cat6 cable:
| Items | Cat 5e | Cat 6 |
| Frequency Range | 1-100MHz | 1-250MHz |
| Delay | Same with TSB95 | Same with TSB95 |
| Delay Skew | Same with TSB95 | Same with TSB95 |
| Attenuation | Same with Cat 5 | 43% stricter than Cat5 |
| NEXT | 41% stricter than Cat5 | 337% stricter than Cat5 |
| PSNEXT | Same with Cat 5 | 216% stricter than Cat5 |
| ELFEXT | 5% stricter than Cat5 | 104% stricter than Cat5 |
| PSELFEXT | Same with TSB95 | 95% stricter than Cat5 |
| Return Loss | 26% stricter than Cat5 | 58% stricter than Cat5 |
(1) The main advantage of Cat6 cabling system is reflected on the 1000Mbps network support.
(2) Compared with Category 5e, Cat 6 cabling system has better anti-noise performance, can provide a transmission channel more transparent, more versatile, especially at high frequency.
(3) If use the PAM-5 coding technology of 1000BASE-T, 10Gbps Ethernet requires linear transmission performance at least 625MHz. Most of the cat 5e cables are only 150MHz or 250MHz, the standard cat5e cable also only requires 100MHz. Although Cat 6 has not been forced its performance to 625MHz, but for high bandwidth transmission it is a better medium. Many cable manufacturers provide the nominal 600MHz Cat 6 cable, this is an expectation of some applications may require higher performance.
(4) The average noise immunity at 600MHz of Cat6 cable system is higher than that of Cat5e.
(5) Cat 6 cable structure can withstand greater tension, in technology Cat6 has an absolute advantage over Cat5e cable.
3. The Gigabit network application comparison between Cat5e and Cat6 cables:
There are 1000BASE-T and 1000BASE-TX which use twisted pair cable as a transmission medium in Gigabit network.
(1) Cat5e Network Ethernet Cable can be only with 1000BASE-T.
(2) Cat6 cable is available with 1000BASE-T, can also be used with 1000BASE-TX.
4. The factors restricting the development of Cat6 cabling system:
(1) Price. The price of Cat6 cabling system products is as 30%-60% as higher than that of Cat 5e products.
(2) The widely used fiber optic.
(3) Design and construction quality. Cat 6 cabling systems engineering in the design, construction, management and other aspects of the requirements are relatively higher than Cat 5e cabling system.
5. The matters need attention of Cat6 cabling system applications:
(1) Category 6 cabling system products must be compatible with two standards, namely mutual compatibility and downward compatibility.
(2) The real Category 6 cabling system products should be a complete solution, not just some wiring components.
(3) Since the outer diameter of Category 6 cable is wider than that of common Cat 5 cable, to make the engineering quality of category 6 cabling system and installation excellent, the requirement is very strict to the construction process.
(4) Whether choose Cat 6 cabling system products as the cabling system, must be closely combined with the actual situation of the project as a starting point.
