Cable - Cat 5e vs Cat 6

[Basil135]

I am trying to work out the advantages of installing Cat 6 cable over Cat 5e.

From what I have found, the Cat 6 will support higher transmission rates.

HOWEVER, as we know, actual transmission rates are limited to the slowest piece of equipment on the network.

Now, one of the main considerations here is cost. We will be pulling in excess of 3000 meters of network cable, plus phones. Now, I know for a fact that the phone system doesn't need Cat 6, and the cables will all be run together, at the same time.

So, the big question is, will anything significant be gained by spending the extra money in installing Cat 6? From what I understand, Cat 6 is approx 30% higher to install, once the terminations are completed, as they are a lot harder to do, and should be certified.

To top it off, it wasn't even my project to begin with. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now its my problem. :(

[goingbush]

Cat 5e is good for 350mbps your router lan ports typically run at 100 mbps
FTTP Optic fibre is being fitted with cat 6 from your optic ternimal , your not likely to be getting much more than 100meg so why bother with cat6 , by the time gbit speeds are implemented wireless will be faster & cheaper.

THE NBN is Big con job if you ask me, whats the use of having the worlds fastest network when the rest of the world is pushing out less than 50mbps

[HangOver]

you will find that in real life situations that your 5/5e cable will happily connect at 1000, the data transfer rate of course is a different matter, you may or may not get a real 1Gb transfer but it will be a substantial increase for large file transfer to/from and across your network.
I guess you will have several considerations like, do you intend to run a full 1000 network inc all core/secondary switches?
Are all the user endpoints 1Gb?
will your end user and more importantly management be expecting full 1000 throughout? Will your servers and switches have the capacity to supply several 1Gb at one time. Its great haveing 1000 throughout but if you server has only a 1Gb as opposed to 10Gb or multiple 10Gb connection to switches, well you can see where I'm coming from.
The major consideration I suppose is that your cat6 will be certified, if not and you have issues with your switch gear your supplier wil point the finger at your cables and potentially ignore any issues.

Then you need to look at future proofing, will cat6 speeds be sufficient next year and several afterwards.
Have you considered Cat7, WiFi, optic ?
I guess it all comes down to your budget and what speeds you really need :D

[tailslide]

Cat 6 is a solution still looking for a problem...

Currently there is nothing to be gained by installing Cat6. There is an argument, in the cabling standards, for Cat6a if you a looking to provide 10GBaseT to the desktop. But I would still be discounting this...

In reality, 10G is currently provided via fibre optic cabling and is reserved for computer rooms and distribution networks and not in the access layer.

Cat 5e is the cheapest and provides support for 1G to the desktop; what more do you want. :D:D:D

Cheers
Ron

[George130]

Cat 6 is a solution still looking for a problem...

Currently there is nothing to be gained by installing Cat6. There is an argument, in the cabling standards, for Cat6a if you a looking to provide 10GBaseT to the desktop. But I would still be discounting this...

In reality, 10G is currently provided via fibre optic cabling and is reserved for computer rooms and distribution networks and not in the access layer.

Cat 5e is the cheapest and provides support for 1G to the desktop; what more do you want. :D:D:D

Cheers
Ron

Where I work it is fibre to the desk top:D.

[Basil135]

By the looks of things, Cat 5e is the way to go.

Fibre isn't an option (I wish it was), and neither is wireless (under review, but currently, not permitted on our network)

Unless the desk / laptops are going to support the Cat 6 speeds, which they wont for a long while, there doesn't seem to be much point.

It will be interesting to see what the actual price difference is between the 2, especially when we take into account the skill level required to certify Cat 6 at each connector.

[Matt97]

I just wired my house up with cat6, was doing a renovation so while the walls were open I went with cat6 everywhere including a patch panel in a coms cupboard. I did it because I thought the extra cost was worth it in terms of having the house future proof.

[HangOver]

the physical work involved in laying 5 versus 6 will be very little, usually just the cost of the cable.

[Basil135]

the physical work involved in laying 5 versus 6 will be very little, usually just the cost of the cable.

You are right on. The act of physically pulling the cable will be the same.

However, from what I am reading, Cat 6 connectors need to be done differently, requiring a different skill set, take longer to do vs Cat 5e connectors, and need to be tested to ensure that you are getting the right thru-speeds.


If I was doing a house, or a smaller office, I would probably go with the Cat 6, as the cost difference wouldn't be that big an issue.

[HangOver]

any cable installer with his/her salt would install and test/certify every cable anyway.
cat 6 and cat 5 cables are physically virtually identical.
You can get some that are shielded.

the installing of cat 5 & cat 6 the actuall punching into panels and network sockets is the same. Sometimes the cat 6 cable might be slightly thicker so would make installing marginally harder but again, very little in it.

[greg-g]

Do you have any long runs?
There will be less attenuation on cat 6 compared to 5 but as others have said its probably irrelevant.
If everything is going out from a central point it probably doesn't matter, but just for the insurance I'd probably run Cat 6 between any hubs.
I've recently wired most of our house in cat 6 and found no difference with cat 5. Installers may charge more just because they can, but what's the true difference in costs when the major cost will be labour. A bit more for cable and fittings, say $1000 difference, but that's just a guess.

[Yorkshire_Jon]

The twists per inch in CAT6 is greater than in CAT5e. This translates into a couple of things. Firstly, less attenuation / noise, secondly a higher theoretical throuput of data for a given amount of noise.

What does that mean to Mr average? Not a lot!

Consider CAT6 if:
1. You have long (80m+ cable runs, noting that 100m is the maximum as per ratified standards) and you need to run Gb Ehternet over that cable.
2. You are running the cables in a particularly noisy environment, particularly radio and power cables.

Otherwise, for your house, your probably better saving the $$ and using CAT5e.

As a side note, the standards for CAT5e allow for 1000Mb/s transfer, CAT6 allows for 2000Mb/s.


HTH
Jon

[goingbush]

in my experience, 30 yrs in the industry, contractor installing networks do not test them, not hard to find something on any job that was not up to acma regs, when commissioning telco stuff I found at least 30 % of krone connectors not terminated propley, cat 6 is an overkill, unless you are selling data storage you dont need that sort of thruput, the system is only going to be as fast as the slowest part of the network, and that is not in the lan.

[Basil135]

Well, after speaking to the network guys today, as well as the Project Manager who is paying the bill, the total difference is $2700 between the 2 cables. This in a project that is around the $800k mark, so small change really.

The cable guy has given us a written assurance that all terminations will be certified to Cat 6, and are warrentied against faults for 8 years.

So, at the end of the day, the cost per meter was 17c different, and the rest is in the testing / certification.

Thanks for the range of responses. I certainly learnt a fair bit.

Cheers guys.

[DAMMAG]

What product are they using as a matter of interest?

We install cat6 these days as a matter of course only installing cat5e when the customer specifies it for "cost" reasons. It is standard in schools and most other government installations we do.

I like cat6 cable as it is generally more "solid". Once you get used to it, it doesn't take much longer to terminate.

It is probably overkill (you can successfully run an ethernet connection over a 50pair voice cable, I've done it when we couldn't pull another cable thru an underground conduit) but why wouldn't you when the cost hasn't been overinflated because it is no longer a "new" technology.