Hello –
A friend just finished pulling Cat-5 cables only to find out about Cat-5 E. He is also pulled RG-6 but has a spool of RG-6 Quad…..
He is going to get DSL service.
Anyway, what are the consequences of not going ahead and running the newer stuff ? Will there be a huge compromise in signal quality and throughput 10 years from now ?
I realize this may open a can of worms so I’ll start out with the question of the difference between Cat-5 and Cat-5 E.
I will also do a search in the forum.
Thanks
Replies
The smart way to go is to ignore all the incremental upgrades in kinds of wire. Just put in nice big conduit running to the attic and/or crawl space, and proper boxes. Then you can pull in whatever the current thing is at the time you decide you want it.
-- J.S.
Hi, John -
Thanks for the reply.
I wish it was quite that simple.
This is a 1940's era mansion that's been added on and is three stories tall.
There is no way to run a nice/large conduit, which would be ideal and was considered.
What you suggest makes perfect sense, though.
That will be a lot easier at our house, which is only a ranch with a basement.
We'll work it out somehow.
thanks for the reply,
Alan
Cat-5 E is simply an 'enhanced' version of Cat-5 and is tested to a higher frequency (350MHz possibly). I am not aware of any standard networking protocol that takes advantage of Cat-5E.
Ethernet (over copper) typically runs at 10MHz or 125MHz and by using all four twisted pairs in the Cat-5 cable, data rates up to 1000M bit (1G bit) can be achieved over distances of 100 meters. Fiber can do faster for much longer runs.
-gregg