CAT 6

[mikeydidit]

I am fighting the same old battles that I am sure some of you have had or will have. I have been asked to look into upgrading our grade of cable we use to Cat 6. At present I am using Berk-tek Cat 5E hyper plus and we have no problems running video or anything else with it. Why, at this time should I go to Cat6 other than more bandwidth and less loss??

Thanks for your imput. If you find any mistakes, please consider that they are there for a purpose. And everyone needs a purpose.
Hope this helps, Mikey.

 

[Bobg1]

It's not going to give you any additional bandwith.
If you are running a 100m network, thats all the bandwidth
you will get. As for less loss, if your cat 5e has been
installed properly you will not have any noticable losses
the way it is.
Unless you have a specific project that would require the
cat6 cable, I wouldn't even think of doing an upgrade. The cat5 will still last for a good many years.
On the other hand if you have some cabling to add, you may want to go ahead and use the 6, but by the same token, there
will probably be something else out by the time you do need it.

 

[InnoTech]

take a look at this site that franklin97355 posted in a previous thread. i would see no reason to install cat6 cabling unless your company likes to waste money.

very informative site!

http://www.siemon.com/white_papers/99-12-17-demystifying.asp

"Jack of all trades. Master of none."

 

[jimbopalmer]

This may be asked as a contractor, in case my perspective is offbase, as a user:

1) I am pretty sure Cat 3 is just pull string by now, but I doubt Cat5e is useless in most environments in a decade. No reason to replace it until is cannot do something you need to do.

2) Someone WILL dream up a need for Cat 6 given time, as prices come down I sure would start new buildings with Cat 6, just so I never needed to go back in the walls .

I confess that all my gigabit is fiber, as 1000base SX and LX were out years before TX, and I use it as a trunk, not to the desktop, or even to the server (mostly)
I tried to remain child-like, all I acheived was childish.

 

[franklin97355]

I think this statement from the document mentiond=ed above says it well:

When designing and installing structured cabling systems, chose the strongest foundation to support your present and future networking needs. To ensure support of emerging technologies that utilize the latest advances in signaling schemes, it is critical to be as informed as possible. Trust the TIA and ISO standards developmental groups to specify complete cabling criteria capable of providing applications assurance for tomorrow's technologies today.

 

[InnoTech]

thats a very true statement, but also with that being said, if that were being practiced reguarlly most of all new cabling would be fiber runs. most people don't take into fact that they don't NEED gigabit transfer speeds. "Jack of all trades. Master of none."

 

[daronwilson]

We're not installing any Cat6 unless it is specifically specified. Here's my take:

Cat5e (good stuff) has a bandwidth of 350 Mhz. Cat6 as specified has a bandwidth of 250 Mhz. Any questions?

I had hoped the committee would take long enough debating Cat6 that it would just die and we could blow in fiber for a few years. No such luck. What is really sad is that there is coax out there several times the bandwidth, it's cheap and very easy to terminate. Unfortunately, the manufactures and standards folks didn't see it moving forward so it was dropped.

IMHO, install GOOD Cat5e and enjoy it. I personally don't see a particular reason to rush forward into Cat6. Of course, as was already mentioned....new building with rich tenants it might be a solution, but generally not worth the expense at this point.

Good Luck!
It is only my opinion, based on my experience and education...I am always willing to learn, educate me!
Daron J. Wilson, RCDD
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com

 

[mojo2002]

At this point in time, cat5e can do everything cat6 can do, via new compression.

I'd be VERY suprised if you noticed a difference between the two media types.

Why not buy a few runs of cat6 and test it, to put your mind at rest?

steven

 

[mikeydidit]

In my mind, Cat6 six would be a waste of money. By the time I get into Cat6 6 good here comes 6E or 7 . We are just now to the point of getting off a FDDI back bone and are 95% gigabit ethernet across fiber. About 90% of what we have in place is 10/100 ports. I can not see at this point or the next 5 years, for anything more than 5e will do. If you find any mistakes, please consider that they are there for a purpose. And everyone needs a purpose.
Hope this helps, Mikey.