The evolution of the technological landscape increasingly demands faster internet connections for the best connectivity. Part of the solution is providing high speed Ethernet cables for connections.
The cat5 cables have been the most popular and available cables since their introduction in the mid-1990s and could support speeds of up to 100mbps. Cat5e was the next advancement supporting gigabit network applications and introducing crosstalk specifications that were more stringent.
Cat6 cables have been the latest addition, and for the past decade, they have proved to be the superior option due to their connectivity rates and other such advantages.
Here are some of these advantages that cat6 cables have over cat5 ones, which you can consider in your purchases and installation:
Shielding For Radiation
When we compare the cat5 cable and the cat6 bulk cable, the latter tend to have better shielding. This means that they have the infrastructure that makes them have an increased ability to increase the network noise that is generated from overlapping wires, electrical interference or electromagnetic radiation.
This can be attributed to the polyvinyl chloride insulation sheet that covers the cat6 cable. It helps to protect data integrity, as there are no lost packets during transmission.
Also Read: Why Do We Need High-Speed Internet?
Speed Comparison
The modern age of work and business demands extremely fast internet connections to keep things running smoothly and optimally. Speed measurements on an Ethernet cable are measured at the rate it travels from one cable to the other. The measurement is in hertz or megahertz.
The speed for cat6 cables is up to 250 MHz making them the best option for fast data transfers. The transmission for traditional cat5 cables is limited to 100 MHz, which makes it slow and risks the corruption of data. While cat5 cables only provide up to 350mb speed rates, cat6 cables can go up to 100mb
Installation Lengths
There is a limitation to the length that cat6 cables can go. Shorter cables work better because higher bandwidths require lots of speed. The shorter lengths allow for maintaining high performance with the ideal length for the cat6 being 330ft. The ideal length for cat5 is as you wish as the length does not affect speeds as much.
Improved Data Integrity.
When there is interference within the cables, network noise occurs. This will result in loss of data or corruption of existing data. Higher signal-to-noise ratios ensure better performances. Cat6 cables have higher ratios making them better for use.
Cat6 cables also have longitudinal separators despite the fact that both cables are made by twisting for copper wires. The longitudinal separators help to keep the four wires separate, which increases data transmission rates. There is also minimal cross-talk that ensures data integrity.
Cost considerations
Due to factors such as length, copper content and manufacture, the price for cat6 cables is much higher than that of cat5 cables. Generally, cat6 cables are priced 10-20% above cat5 cables. The quality and speed provisions for cat6 also play a part in making the costs higher.
There are many factors to consider in your wiring options but the top of it all should be quality. It has been shown that 70% of network downtime is due to inferior cabling systems. Choose the cable connection that will not have you screaming at your devices out of frustrations
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