• Category-6 cable, commonly referred to as Cat-6, is a cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet and other network protocols that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable standards.
  • Cat-6 give good control over crosstalk and system noise.
  • Cat-6 cable standard provides performance of up to 250 MHz and is suitable for 10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet)
  • Cat-6 is normally terminated in 8P8C modular connectors, often incorrectly referred to as “RJ-45″ electrical connectors.
  • CAT-6 cable contains four pairs of copper wire and unlike CAT5, utilizes all four pairs.
  • Cat-6 can support 10 Gbit/s applications (especially 10GBaseT) up to a maximum distance of 100 meters.
  • Twisted pair cable like CAT6 comes in two main varieties, solid and stranded. Solid CAT6 cable supports longer runs and works best in fixed wiring configurations like office buildings. Stranded CAT6 cable, on the other hand, is more pliable and better suited for shorter-distance, movable cabling such as “patch” cables.
  • Cat-5e cable is an enhanced version of Cat 5 that adds specifications for far end crosstalk.
  • Cat-5e cables are still limited to a maximum of 100 m (328 ft) in length (normal practice is to limit fixed (”horizontal”) cables to 90 m to allow for up to 5 m of patch cable at each end, this comes to a total of the previous mentioned 100m maximum).
  • Although CAT5 cable usually contains four pairs of copper wire, Fast Ethernet communications only utilize two pairs. A newer specification for CAT5 cable - CAT5 enhanced (CAT5e) - supports networking at Gigabit Ethernet[ speeds (up to 1000 Mbps) over short distances by utilizing all four wire pairs, and it is backward compatible with ordinary CAT5.