Cat5e cable to Cat6 wall socket

[pilla95]

I am wanting to install a few more ethernet sockets in my house. I figure I should install Cat6 now cause it'll update the house for internet in the future. We're no where near getting 10Gbps internet in our area, but 1Gbps is coming up soon.

What I'm wondering is if I could use a Cat5 cable with a Cat6 ethernet socket. I know the max speed is only as high as the weakest link (Cat5), but I'm just curious if it'll work to plug a Cat5 cable into a Cat6 wall socket.

 

[kanewolf]

Sure. It will just work like cat5e. There is no "magic" in cat6 vs cat5e. There are some technical differences, but gigabit to the desktop will be viable for many years to come.

 

[why_wolf]

yeah it will work just fine (restricted to max speed of 5e obviously). Cat6 is the same as 5e just with better shielding which is what allows it to sustain higher speeds.

 

[Solandri]

The shielding on Cat6 and Cat5e is the same. Cat6 just mandates tighter twists (to reject noise), and a plastic cross-piece to keep the four twisted pairs separate (to reduce crosstalk). The now-defunct Cat7 mandated shielding each twisted pair.

The specs are also guaranteed minimums for a 100 meter long cable. i.e. Cat 6 guarantees that Gigabit Ethernet will work up to 100 meters. On shorter cable lengths like a wall socket to a PC, even regular Cat 5 cable can handle Gigabit Ethernet. Heck, you could probably get Gigabit to work on Cat 3 (phone cable) over a few feet. It's not much different from those flat or small-diameter Ethernet cables. The copper in the wires is pretty much the same, the different specs just define different ways of twisting and shielding the wires to reduce noise.

 

[kanewolf]

@Solandri brings up a good point ... Copper !!! Do NOT use CCA wire. It is garbage, no matter what BS standard is printed on the outside.