CAT6 Introduction from OPENXTRA

CAT6, short for Category 6, is a twisted pair cable standard developed by the TIA & EIA.

CAT6 uses all four pairs of the cable and supports up to 1000Mbs Gigabit Ethernet. The construction of CAT6 cabling is similar to CAT5 and CAT5e, but the quality is better resulting in less crosstalk and other interference.

CAT6 costs more than CAT5 or CAT5e cabling, and few applications take advantage of the additional speed afforded by it. However, CAT6 may be worth considering if you are installing a network and you want to plan for the future.

Cable runs should not exceed 100 meters (328 feet).

See Also