Fibre OpticCabling

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Technical Information
Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat6A Explained
Why Cat 5e, Cat 6 or Cat 6A?

Category or Class Cat 5e

Category 5 was first published as a standard in 1995 and The original Category 5 standard was suitable for LAN
Category 5e came along in 1995. It appeared in: transmission standards up to 155Mb/s, including all the
various forms of fast Ethernet up to 100Mb/s. When Gigabit
• ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A Ethernet was introduced in 1998 it was discovered that the original
• EN 50173 Cat 5 specification wasn’t good enough to guarantee error-free
• ISO 11801 performance. Extra technical requirements were added to the
original Cat 5 specification, such as Return Loss, Delay, Delay
Note that in the American standard (TIA) the term ‘Category’ refers Skew and Power Sum Crosstalk measurements to ensure reliable
to the individual product performance (cables and connectors etc) operation of Gigabit Ethernet. The improved range of parameters
and the overall channel performance. became known as Enhanced Category 5 or Cat 5e. Cat 5 has long
been superseded by Cat 5e. The electrical performance for Cat 5e
For example Category 5e defines a range of electrical requirements is up to 100MHz.
performances up to 100MHz. However, in the European
standard, EN 50173 and the international ISO standard,
‘Category’ only refers to individual product performance.
The overall link and channel performance is rated by ‘Class’.
So for example a Cat 5e cable terminated with Cat 5e Cat 5e Link Performance Requirements (TIA)
connecting hardware would give a Class D channel and link
performance.
Frequency 100MHz 250MHz 500MHz
• Cat 5e Channel corresponds to Class D Channel
• Cat 6 Channel corresponds to Class E Channel
Insertion Loss 21.0dB
• Cat 6A Channel corresponds to Class EA Channel
Return Loss 12.0dB
However, it is also worth noting that although the
performance requirements for TIA and EN ISO are very NEXT 32.3dB
similar, there are still slight differences between ‘Category’
and ‘Class’.

What They Have in Common?

All Cat 5e, Cat 6 and Cat 6A cables use 4 twisted pairs in a
common jacket. They use the same style RJ45 Jacks and
Plugs. They can all use shielded twisted cable (STP) or unshielded Cat 6
twisted pair (UTP) cables. The channel is
limited to a length of 100 metres including the length of Category 6 was designed as the next generation of cabling to Cat 5e.
patch cables on either end of the link. The connectors are Cat 6 requires more demanding electrical parameters than Cat 5e, up
backward compatible. For instance, you may use Cat 5e to 250MHz rather than 100MHz for Cat 5e. It is a higher performance
connectors for a Cat 6 permanent cabling link. Your system system, supporting more than double the frequency with 250MHz
will perform at a level of the lowest link, in this case Cat 5e. and running to a higher specification. This gives it significant
Up to 2013, the standards for all three of Cat 5e, Cat 6 and performance headroom to support the faster protocols and is
Cat 6A are as follows: therefore considered more reliable than Cat 5e. It is also suitable for
Gigabit Ethernet transmission.
• ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-C
• EN 50173
• ISO 11801

T: 01376 346600 E: sales@connectix.co.uk www.connectixcablingsystems.com

©2019 Connectix E&OE
 Fibre OpticCabling
Connectix CablingSystems

Technical Information
Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat6A Explained
What Are The Differences?
Cat 6 Link Performance Requirements (TIA)
Cat 6A has a better transmission performance than Cat
Frequency 100MHz 250MHz 500MHz 6 and Cat 5e. In turn, the higher grade of the system, the
less signal loss, the less cross talk, and wider frequency
Insertion bandwidth. These are all electrical performance differences, not
18.6dB 31.1dB meaning the ‘speed’ of the network performance. Using a higher
Loss
grade of cabling system such as Cat 6A doesn’t necessarily lead to
Return a faster network. The network speed is decided by the transmission
14.0dB 10.0dB equipment such as a network switch.
Loss

A network switch will negotiate the fastest link it can

NEXT 41.8dB 35.3dB manage out of 10Mbit/s, 100Mbit/s, 1Gbit/s or 10Gbit/s. It
will start by trying for the best speed it is able to find. If the
cabling system and receiving end can’t handle the speed, it
Cat 6A will start to drop down to the next designated speed until
the entire link can support the speed. Hence for Gigabit
Cat 6A cabling is higher performance with requirements transmission we use Cat 5e or Cat 6 system and for 10
up to 500MHz in frequency and is designed to support Gigabit we use Cat 6A system.
10 Gigabit transmission over the full 100 metre channel.
It is also backwards compatible with Cat 6 and Cat 5e. A Both Cat 5e and Cat 6 supports Gigabit Ethernet. The
new electrical parameter measure of ‘alien crosstalk’ was advantage for Cat 6 over Cat 5e is that it gives more
introduced to ensure that the Cat 6A cabling system can headroom in terms of performance and is more reliable than Cat
properly run 10 Gigabit transmission. The alien crosstalk 5e as it provides room for error. However, Cat 6 takes up more
is a measurement of the noise crosstalk generated from space for installation and is more costly than Cat 5e. Cat 5e is
neighbouring cables, which was initially not a concern for Cat 5e still extensively used more than any other system in the Ethernet
and Cat 6 whose frequency was up to 100MHz and family.
250MHz respectively. However due to operating at a higher
frequency of 500MHz for Cat 6A it is important to consider For 10Gigabit transmission, Cat 6A is the best option.
the alien crosstalk effect. However, to date, 10GBase-T switches and relative interfaces are
still new, expensive and power hungry. Most users are choosing Cat
Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) cabling system with shielding 5e or Cat 6 on the basis that they are perfectly capable of running
effect can prevent most of the noise from neighbouring Gigabit Ethernet. This is more than adequate for most users
cables and is preferable for a Cat 6A system. A specially for the forseeable future. The Cat 6A system will take off when
designed Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cabling system is computers and network equipment is equipped with 10Gigabit
also available to mitigate the alien crosstalk. However in interfaces. It is then that the 10Gigabit bandwidth will be fully
terms of cost, the UTP system could be similar or more costly than exploited and its potential fully understood. Hence the argument
the STP system since the cost of the specially designed UTP cable for a Cat 6A system is that it is future proof. Cost and space is
is relatively high. Up to date, the STP system is more popular and still a big challenge for Cat 6A which needs much more space for
widely accepted for Cat 6A system in UK. installation than Cat 6 and is also much more expensive. However,
for a data centre, computer room and backbone cabling where
transmission speed and bandwidth is demanding, Cat 6A is now a
popular option against fibre since it is cheaper and mechanically
more robust than fibre. Cat 6A might not be able to compete with
10Gigabit fibre for long links over 100m such as long distance main
backbone cable but it has proved to be very reliable in data centres
Cat 6A Link Performance Requirements (TIA) where links are usually under 100m.

Frequency 100MHz 250MHz 500MHz

Insertion
18.6dB 29.5dB 43.8dB
Loss

Return
14.0dB 10.0dB 8.0dB
Loss

NEXT 41.8dB 35.3dB 26.7dB

T: 01376 346600 E: sales@connectix.co.uk www.connectixcablingsystems.com

©2019 Connectix E&OE