I always forget the speed differences (and other specs) for ethernet cables. I can find what I need from various sources, but I haven’t been able to find a good chart with the info I want to print out at work. Most likely I’ll create my own, but I’m curious what’s already out there.
Looks like we’re up to CAT8 now, with limit of 30meters, whereas CAT7 and lower are all 100m at their base speeds. Here’s my basic cheatsheet:
CAT5 - 100Mbps, 100 Mhz
5e - 1Gbps
6 - 1Gbps (10Gbps < 55meters), 250 Mhz
6a - 10Gbps, 500 Mhz
[2nd attempt at posting. Timed out earlier.]
I really like Wikipedia for stuff like this. This chart is helpful for a quick overview and you can always dig deeper into the linked pages for each specific CAT cable:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair#Building_infrastructure
Cablek has a nice primer on their website on it
https://www.cablek.com/technical-reference/cat-5---5e--6--6a---7--8-standards
the connector types used are also a part of the spec for example CAT7 standard cannot be achieved with an RJ45 (at least by the book) Though you might still use CAT7 rated cable for the additional interference resistance at longer distances with RJ45 connectors.
This should mean that, if I wire my house with all Cat6, my whole house should be able to do 10Gbps with all lines being less than 200 feet.
Right?
I run 10G over the shitty cat 5 they used for my phone wiring, although at less than 200’. You can get away with worse than what the specs say.
Cat 6a, and 300ft (100m).
Make sure you use the right ends (get specifically cat6a ends, as most unspecified will be cat5e).
Make sure your equipment can support 10gbps.
And make sure your equipment can power 10gbps over the 100m (some sfp+ transceivers are lower power and can only do ~20m or whatever. I imagine the same applies to RJ45 based kit)You can run 10gbps over wire coat hangers, if the connection is short enough and external factors are small enough. The longer it is and the more interference, the less likely that becomes.
It looks like generally speaking, 37-55 meters (120-180 feet) is the common limit where this becomes infeasible. Will it work beyond that? Maybe. Or maybe it’ll work some of the time. Or it’ll always say 10G, but you get a lot of lost packets.
If you’re wiring new, go Cat6a. Better yet, run conduit. That way you can easily run cat6a now, and later replace it with cat8 or fiber or whatever becomes the standard.
