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Home network wiring questions
Crazy Cooter:
That's a good point CT, I've been considering switching to a gigbit network myself (still a little expensive, but coming down in price).
What are the bandwidth ratings of cat5, 5e and 6?
found it FYI:
Cat3
UTP
16 MHz
100m
10Base-T, 4Mbps
Now mainly for telephone cables
Cat4
UTP
20 MHz
100m
16Mbps
Rarely seen
Cat5
UTP
100MHz
100m
100Base-Tx,ATM, CDDI
Common for current LANs
Cat5e
UTP
100MHz
100m
1000Base-T
Common for current LANs
Cat6
UTP
250MHz
100m
ChadTower:
It can be found cheaply if you look around enough. When I started doing my house I paid $60 for 1000' of cat6 and that was 3 years ago. I got it off ebay and the company was 5 miles from where I was working at the time.
Put a fraction of the amount of effort into finding the cable as you do into finding a cab and you'll find it. ;)
GGKoul:
But Cat5e cable can still run a gigbit network...
ChadTower:
Less reliably so, and that's the max of what it is rated to do. Cat6 will be able to handle the next step up, most likely, while 5e will be left behind. Cat6 is also more tolerant of things like interference.
GGKoul:
In my next house I'll be sure to wire Cat6... :D