The difference between Cat5(e) and Cat 6 will not be obvious for home users but is certainly noticeable in large business deployments. Cat5 and 5e are capable of providing 100MHz whereas Cat6 is rated to 250MHz, assuming it is installed to specifications. In addition to the increased frequency, Cat6 is has much greater protection against crosstalk and system noise which is far more important to many sysadmins.
Previously we benefited from the honour system in place, many Cat 5 cables actually met the Cat 5e specification but it seems that this is not the case with Cat 6. Hack a Day has heard word through a cable provider that Fluke noticed that 80% of the Cat 6 tested with their equipment does not meet specification, in many cases it does not even meet Cat 5e specs. Since a Fluke line tester capable of analyzing network cabling to this degree of accuracy costs north of $10,000 not all companies are going to have their networks fully tested for compliance. This may be why you are seeing odd behaviour on your network.
"So they did some research and purchased a Fluke certification tester for a measly 12,000 US dollars. While they were purchasing the device, they ran across an interesting tidbit in the fluke knowledge base. Fluke said that 80% of the consumer Cat 6 cables they tested didn’t begin to meet the Cat 6 specification."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
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- Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge start getting Android 6.0 Marshmallow update @ The Inqurier
- Galaxy S7: 7 things to expect from Samsung's next smartphone @ The Inquirer
- Windows 10 dethrones XP to become number three operating system @ The Inquirer
- Intel and Micron's XPoint: Is it PCM? We think it is @ The Register
- Tronsmart Vega S95 Telos Android 4K Media Player Review @ Madshrimps
- Reg readers battle to claim 'my silicon's older than yours' crown @ The Register
- How a Hacker Jump Starts a Car @ Hack a Day
I don’t mind paying a bit
I don’t mind paying a bit more for higher quality components, but it seems to increasingly be the case that the higher quality devices just are not available, or things with a premium price are of no higher quality than the lower end stuff. Makers of higher quality components just can’t compete since there is no easy way for the consumer to test them.
Im assuming this also applies
Im assuming this also applies to cat 6a?
It wasn’t what they were
It wasn't what they were testing but presumably you might not be getting that 500MHz. One hopes it at least meets Cat5e but …
If you’re doing a cable
If you’re doing a cable install, rent the tester and qualify everything. They’re really, REALLY easy to use (DSX5000 practically handholds you through the whole thing), and it makes it easier to troubleshoot bad patches and bad wiring too (time-domain test reports what failed where). Unless you;re doing install for a living a 10k analyser isn’t worth buying outright, but it;s more than worth renting one to avoid headaches later.
is there a cable manufacture
is there a cable manufacture or site that does guarantee cat 6 standards?
The article ultimately links
The article ultimately links to BlueJean cables and is an ad for their cables which they state they test every cable they make and send the testing report with the cable they sell you. They offer CAT 5e, 6, and 6a. Prices are not bad. One thing they did not do is actually benchmark the cables they tested to compare actual data throughput in a real world scenario.
Those are patch and wont
Those are patch and wont matter if the Cat6 in the walls is bad or not terminated correctly.
I wonder if it’s really the cable or the jack end that is hard to meet spec on?