08-08-2016, 09:33 AM
Even basic Cat 5 cable is good for 1 Gb/s.
Cat 5e has improved crosstalk specs, but the performance is identical to 5 in real-world applications.
Cat 6 can do 10 Gb/s, but only up to 55 metres. Whereas 10/100/1000 Mb/s travels 100 metres on Cat 5 or better - hence no need for 5e or 6 if you're not going beyond 1 Gb/s.
Cat 6e is not a recognised standard, but Cat 6A is. It increases the distance 10 Gb/s Ethernet can go to 100 metres.
Cat 7 and Cat 8 exist, but I've yet to see these in the wild. At work, I'm used to seeing Cat 5 (older installations), 5e, 6, 6A and fibre. There is a lot of fibre in big buildings like BH, as you might imagine...
So in summary, unless you think you might use 10 Gb/s Ethernet in the future, Cat 5, 5e or 6 will be absolutely fine. I seriously doubt that Cat 5 has been offered for sale in the last decade, but if you found a "box end" for free, there's no reason not to use it. Cat 5e is ubiquitous and cheap. Cat 6 is considerably more expensive, and harder to work with, so it's not something I'd consider using in a domestic installation unless I was offered a "box end" cheap or free.
I know that someone is alleged to have said "640K ought to be enough for anybody", but at home, it's really hard to see Gb Ethernet being inadequate for quite some time yet. Domestically, for the average user the trend is the opposite, with most devices using slow wifi today - but that's fine for basic browsing on a tablet or phone. In a corporate environment things are obviously different - at least where I work where uncompressed broadcast video is moved over Ethernet networks all day every day - but given that uncompressed video will never be delivered to the home, it seems that 10Gb/s at home is for niche applications only (freelance video producers, perhaps?).
YMMV, naturally.
Cat 5e has improved crosstalk specs, but the performance is identical to 5 in real-world applications.
Cat 6 can do 10 Gb/s, but only up to 55 metres. Whereas 10/100/1000 Mb/s travels 100 metres on Cat 5 or better - hence no need for 5e or 6 if you're not going beyond 1 Gb/s.
Cat 6e is not a recognised standard, but Cat 6A is. It increases the distance 10 Gb/s Ethernet can go to 100 metres.
Cat 7 and Cat 8 exist, but I've yet to see these in the wild. At work, I'm used to seeing Cat 5 (older installations), 5e, 6, 6A and fibre. There is a lot of fibre in big buildings like BH, as you might imagine...
So in summary, unless you think you might use 10 Gb/s Ethernet in the future, Cat 5, 5e or 6 will be absolutely fine. I seriously doubt that Cat 5 has been offered for sale in the last decade, but if you found a "box end" for free, there's no reason not to use it. Cat 5e is ubiquitous and cheap. Cat 6 is considerably more expensive, and harder to work with, so it's not something I'd consider using in a domestic installation unless I was offered a "box end" cheap or free.
I know that someone is alleged to have said "640K ought to be enough for anybody", but at home, it's really hard to see Gb Ethernet being inadequate for quite some time yet. Domestically, for the average user the trend is the opposite, with most devices using slow wifi today - but that's fine for basic browsing on a tablet or phone. In a corporate environment things are obviously different - at least where I work where uncompressed broadcast video is moved over Ethernet networks all day every day - but given that uncompressed video will never be delivered to the home, it seems that 10Gb/s at home is for niche applications only (freelance video producers, perhaps?).
YMMV, naturally.
