{"id":6460,"date":"2022-10-11T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.misumiusa.com\/?p=6460"},"modified":"2022-10-05T13:37:29","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T18:37:29","slug":"how-to-choose-between-cat-5-cat-5e-and-cat-6-cables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.misumiusa.com\/how-to-choose-between-cat-5-cat-5e-and-cat-6-cables\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose Between Cat 5, Cat 5e and Cat 6 Cables"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cat 5 vs Cat 5e and Cat 6 \u2013 The Need For Speed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the world of digital networks expands into a seemingly\nnear-infinite size, more and more questions arise over how data is\ntransmitted.  People often hear terms\nsuch as Cat 5 and Cat 5e and wonder, is there any difference between the two\nbesides just a letter?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a difference but to explain it requires us to look back and with technology, it\u2019s imperative to look forward.  It is much more important to understand the difference between Cat 5e<\/a> and Cat 6<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speed has always been and will probably always be the most important characteristic of a network.  As users and technology generate more data more quickly, it will continue to become increasingly necessary to push that data through a physical pipeline like a network cable.  A single second in time is no different today than at any point in history so it is more important to make each one count.  Time is a limited resource so pushing as much data as possible during that given second is essential to keep up with data generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cat 5 Ethernet Cable Assembly<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Cat 5e Ethernet Cable Assembly<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Network cabling serves as the physical transmission mechanism\nof the ones-and-zeros that make up computer binary logic.  These are transmitting electrical pulses at a\nmind-boggling rate of speed.  Cat 5 can\nsend 100 million of these signals in a single second.  This is where the terms 100 Mbps and 100MHz\ncome into play.  Each bit (electrical\npulse) is transmitted down the cable and the cables are designed to allow\n100,000,000 of these each second.  For\nmany, this speed has been adequate for quite some time.   The\nexpansion to Cat 5e increased the speed to a billion bits per second (gigabit),\nthereby extending the useful life of this technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cat 5e Ethernet Cable<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Technology does not slow down and the growth of content\ntransmission (think YouTube, 4K television, online video games, etc.) requires\ntremendous amounts of data to be transmitted. \nIn an office or in a factory, terabytes of information can be generated\nin a short period of time.  To ensure\nfast, real-time transmission one must pack more on-off signals into that same\nsecond of time in the same type of cable as before.  This is where Cat 6 becomes critical to the\ngrowing infrastructure of data transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cat 6 Ethernet Cable<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cat 6 is designed to allow many more on-off signals to\ntransmit over the same period.  In fact,\nit can handle up to 10 billion bits per second \u2013 100 times more than Cat\n5.  One way to think of this difference\nis that, if running at top speed, a file that would take 100 seconds to\ntransfer over Cat 5 cable would only take 1 second over a Cat 6.  More data over the same period creates an\nefficiency that can handle the requirements of the most advanced technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MISUMI<\/a> is a leader in Cat 5e <\/a>and Cat 6<\/a> cabling. If you need cabling<\/a> that goes into an air-conditioned office or in the hot dirty manufacturing environment, explore the selection here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cat 5 vs Cat 5e and Cat 6 \u2013 The Need For Speed As the world of digital networks expands into a seemingly near-infinite size, more and more questions arise over how data is transmitted.  People often hear terms such as Cat 5 and Cat 5e and wonder, is there any difference between the two besides just a letter? There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1137],"tags":[794,789,790,792,791,796,797,795,842,793,326],"class_list":["post-6460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-things-electric","tag-cable","tag-cabling","tag-cat5","tag-cat6","tag-cate","tag-data","tag-data-transmission","tag-digital","tag-electrical","tag-networking","tag-speed"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t