Cat5e cable is completely backwards compatible with cat5 and can be used in any application in which you would normally use cat5 cable.
Cat5e vs cat6 cable size.
Cat 6 cables technically support speeds up to 10gbps but only do so for up to 55 meters.
That speed comes with a price however as cat 6 cables are more expensive than cat 5 and cat 5e variants.
Cat 5e is an enhanced version of cat5 that adds specifications for crosstalk see below.
Cat 6 ethernet cable.
The cat6 cable uses a thicker gauge wire and has an increased shielding.
The cost is about 20 35 higher than cat6 but the maximum cable length is 100 meters across all systems and conditions for gigabit ethernet.
Cat5 and cat5e cables.
The cable needed to be capable of transmitting at a higher frequency of 250 mhz.
Cat 6 was developed with advancement in technology and the need to transfer more data at faster speeds.
As a means of future proofing your network cat6 is generally a better choice and worth the small premium in price.
Cat5 cable cat5 cable is broken into two separate categories.
Cat6 cables also called category 6 or cat 6 cables provide lower crosstalk a higher signal to noise ratio and are suitable for 10gbase t 10 gigabit ethernet while cat5e cables support only up to 1000base t gigabit ethernet.
This cable gave the ability to have a 10 gigabit network.
Cat 5e was already handling gigabit speed cat 6 was further improved to offer a bandwidth of 250 mhz.
Cat 6 cables came out only a few years after cat 5e.
For much of the 2000 s cat 5e was run to the workstations and cat 6 was run.
Cat 5e has been defined by the tia eia 568 b and is recognized by the same.
Cat5 has become obsolete in recent years due to its limitations compared to cat5e and cat6 cables.
The cat5e cable is also better than the cat5 at ignoring crosstalk or interference from the wires within the cable itself.
Network support cat 5 cable will support 10base t and 100base t network standards that is it supports networks running at 10 mbps or 100 mbps.
Category 6 the mainstream adoption of gigabit ethernet 1000base t required a new industry standard cable.
Cat 5e cables are typically 24 gauge twisted pair wires which can produce a gigibit network at distances up to 328 ft including patch cables at both ends.
Also the wires have more twists.
Though cat6 and cat7 cables exist and can work with even faster speeds cat5e cables will work for most small networks.
Cat5e and cat6 cables are both backwards.
Cat5 vs cat5e.