Cat5e cables and Cat6 Cables are two types of cabling LAN wires that are used to connect network mediums together. These are the channels upon which data travels from one location to another. Bad cabling can result in to low network performance and low quality cables can also become a blockage for your whole network. Cat6 cables works at a frequency of 200Mhz minimum which is double of Cat5e cables. So Cat6 cable can allow faster data transfer speeds given that all the hardware in the network system also operates at that given speed. The performance comes with a literal more price. Cat6 cables are expensive as compared to Cat5e cables. That is why Cat5e cables are still used mostly in networks. Cat6 cables also allow no major benefits to most networks when it comes to the total speed at which the network works since the hardware has not yet caught up. This condition is similar to adding extra lanes to a road that isn’t crowded. It costs more but doesn’t really solve any problem. With that, it should also be renowned that there are no unpleasant effects to using Cat6 cables since it is backwards companionable. If Cat6 cables do not have any major benefits today, the need for better and faster networks is predictable and it is only a matter of time prior to Cat5e cables become too slow for most applications. Just like with the road symbol that we used above, all roads get crowded after some time. Best use of Cat6 cables today is to future confirm your tools so that once you upgrade, you would no longer need to put back your cables to attain the full benefit. Future proofing is particularly important in situations where the cables become very tricky to reach after installation like in wall cabling. Summary: 1. Cat6 cables is the descendant to Cat5e 2. Cat6 works at 200MHz minimum while Cat5e only works at 100MHz minimum 3. Cat6 cables are more expensive than Cat5e 4. There is actually no important performance that can be achieved today by using Cat6 cables than of Cat5e 5. Cat6 cables are backwards well-matched with Cat5e cables 6. Cat6 is best for future proofing your network particularly with cables that are difficult to restore












