Cat6 vs Cat6a - Which is Better?

[@jasonjtg21]

Thank you for breaking this down. I have been going back and forth cat6 and cat6a for resting my house. Thank you for helping with the decision

[@seadog9298]

Helps a lot. TY. My runs are 50ft or less so this made it easier to decide and sounds like cat6 is well within the spec.

[@hvp74]

I install infrastructure cabling and you were very clear and concise. I definitely couldn't have said it better myself. Also, when it gets close to 100 meters and the hardware I'm installing permits...like it has a fiber port or an SFP connection so I can install a fiber port, I recommend an upgrade to fiber. Thanks

[@ChadAmI80]

Thank you. You just save me a bunch of added expense. I thought I needed Cat 6A. Glad to know I can get away with Cat 6.

[@satyajitsarkar1645]

Really hope you guys get the opportunity to grow this channel, great, genuine content!

[@joby5072]

Im from india. Excellent genuine video bro.👌

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

Thank you, friend.

[@josephkiloh5812]

Subbed because of this video. So clear and incredibly helpful in my decision here.

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

Glad we could help Joseph! Thanks for the Sub

[@ChrisWilliams-ou8wc]

How come you didn't mention crosstalk or EMI? Is it just so that it's simpler for that average consumer?

[@funkywallet3392]

This was VERY helpful. Thank you!

[@Gothamalex]

Sweet. No BS. Answered Question with examples. No Bumbling, walk around the farmyard here. THANK YOU

[@JeremyCobb]

now that is hugely helpful

[@SyberPrepper]

This is really helpful. Thanks!

[@fastrice3461]

Great video, thanks!

[@jimpann]

Perfect! Thanks for the precise to the point explanation. New sub.

[@mak.ak.uk.]

Sorry to ask what seems like a silly question. But just wanted to confirm... Is that 30-50m limit per Cat6 run (eg. router to device) or total runs around the house?

[@rsexpres23]

Very true about putting the ends on. I was going to use cat6a and the more i read on it about terminating the ends it was not worth it. One mess up with the sheilding and its no good. Keep on making these videos they are very helpful. Thanks TYM

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

ronnie szymula thx will do!

[@greenfatman]

Same, read that cat6a was tricky to use when putting the ends. So i ended up opting for cat6 instead. Save a heap of money too

[@robertmedina3195]

They make shielded and unshielded Cat6a. There is no difference in terminations UNLESS your cable does not have striped conductors. That makes it a bit more difficult. You can stripe them yourself with a marker or cut your unstripped conductors in a staggered manner so you keep track of which is which. I wouldn't trust those guys who say they can't terminate to meet spec, that's just embarrassing.

[@Tepper32]

Great video. Thanks for the info. Subscribed!

[@gurnanis]

Very well said. Loved how you were clear about everything.. detailed and quick! Not everyone likes super long videos that don’t need to be long. Everything one knows about networking is never enough.. it’s always amazing to learn new things !! Thank you 🙏

[@dankelly]

hat if I'm getting 2 GBs or 5GBs from my Internet provider? Wouldn't 6 and 6e cap my speed at 1GB?

[@JurajMojzisik]

Finally, THE ANSWER ! Thank you :)

[@JoshuaTarvin]

Thanks a lot!

[@MaximusPham]

Very helpful, thanks I was worried if the selection of CAT6 for my new house was adequate.

[@coderr_]

Hey question my router is like 150 feet away from my room but i have a wifi entender that can i can plug a ethernet in so should i get cat6 or cat6a

[@mehmd1913]

If you have a run that is 120 feet do you just decrease the run below 100 feet and add a switch? Will this preserve the 10 GB bandwidth?

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

MEHMD1 you could use a mid span injector for cameras and access points, etc. for video distribution you really want to go point to point, Balun to balun. Or upgrade to cat6a to be on the safe side

[@mehmd1913]

@@SmartHomeBrothers however 6a doesn't support phone...

[@garychios]

I am a retired fortune 50 Market Data engineer. All I did was networking and Application development for low latency trading with average budget of 50 mill per project. I am a hater when it comes to self taught people about networking, but this one video I cant hate on. I am wondering, were you trained on this, or just experience? Either way, not bad.

[@elmaia9521]

thank you

[@MultiANTI]

Can I use cat6a connector on cat5e?

[@drewbush6535]

What about the ends

[@Mstom178]

thanks bro

[@DennisboMller]

I choose cat6a for my home installation just because i wanted to future proof the installation which is a pain to wire, its about 40meters through wall and celling so now i dont have to mesh with it later on. I'm definitely ready for cloud gaming and 8k on multiple devices.

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

Yeah I think you'll be glad you went that route, especially if you're into gaming and 8k :)

[@supaman881]

I'm pretty sure the cat6a did not future proof you anymore than cat6 would have at 40 meters.

[@mikeperkins1108]

Thank you for the info. The only question i have is there better brand cat6 than others. So many companies out there to choose from!!!

[@BryantAvant]

The problem with the wire industry is that most (if not all) the manufacturers are not held accountable for the standard that print on the packaging.

[@ryanmoon724]

just watched 5 10-15 minute videos on this and gained nothing. watched this 4 minute video and got my question answered. this man is the goat

[@psychomaniac189]

thanks just saved me thinking i should upgrade from cat6 to cat6a like this guy from work tried to convince me.

[@PC-ml3yo]

3-4 category cables per TV... Any recommendations about bundling several cat6a together to tv? Should we expect any interference with u/ftp ?

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

Never experienced any issues with interference in that setup, and it's a pretty standard practice in the industry, so think you're safe. It depends on what you're doing. When we know all the hardware in advance, we can get away with fewer Cat6, but when we aren't positive, we have instances where we need as many as 4.

[@tubastud06]

Just a point of clarification here: Just because you have CAT6/6A cable runs does not mean that you will get 10Gb/s transfer speeds. You must have 10Gb/s capable switches and network interface cards on both ends to see that magical number. The big benefit of CAT6/6A is that they have a higher transfer frequency of 250Mhz (CAT6) and 500Mhz (CAT6A), when compared to the previous standard (CAT5e) of 100Mhz, this reduces attenuation and allows for a "cleaner" connection over the 100 meter distances which, in turn, will allow for higher transfer speeds of up to 10Gb/s. As for the "pertain[ing] to 4K video distribution", which wasn't really discussed in the video, a 1Gb/s network is perfectly capable of handling multiple 4K streams at the same time. It all comes down to your network gear that you're running and your network topology. If you have a dinky home router with a built in switch (Linksys, Netgear, etc...) you might only be able to pull off a single 4K transfer before the network is bogged down because of subpar hardware not being able to handle that video stream and other requests. The device that's acting as the server for the media - Be it a standalone NAS, a la Synology or an actual server - will also be a factor into how many or how well it can stream a 4K video across the network. A low power NAS might be able to pull it off, but it'll be maxing out its processing power to do so. A server with beefier hardware will have no problems streaming a video and handling other storage tasks at the same time.

[@nathansteiger2409]

Jason Clary you realize it’s weak at distances right?

[@karlsan6397]

How about the Cat6e?

[@mrniusi11]

no such thing

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

Thanks for watching our video! Let us know if you have any questions.

[@derickdowney6992]

Insightful content as usual! Working my way through your prewire guides too. Question / maybe a future video topic - when would you use Cat5e instead of Cat6, and why? It seems you can always err on the side of Cat6, but are there times when Cat6 is a bit overkill?

[@alchemyhouse]

eh -- we have to go 300 feet back to our back fence for the security camera on POE -- the terminating issue is good to know about.

[@fightergr430]

ty man

[@itsJoshW]

What the hell are they trying to terminate, SPF+ connectors?

[@jamesmaddren1082]

Stop editing your videos every 2 seconds of recorded fotage!

[@pauljohnson8540]

Hi. Great vid. In your vid description you write; "...especially as it pertains to 4K video distribution." I don't think 4K was mentioned in the vid. Regardless, can you please confirm CAT6 is adequate for 4K video. As well, will CAT6 be adequate for the Devialet Phantom Gold wifi speakers? The speakers connect wireless to a Devialet product called the "Dialogue" and the Dialogue has to be wired to the router to complete a stereo pair of Phantoms. Your confirmation would be much appreciated. Thanks, Paul J.

[@ChrisYoungers]

Cat6 is plenty for 4K TV.

[@azdinova4158]

thanks for this video I will go with cat6 for 100ft.

[@RogueLeader21]

Great info. Also - TYM drinking game. Watch this video and drink at every jump cut.

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

LOL!

[@DavinderSingh-xt6rc]

I was just going to send you a email about this 😂

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

Davinder Singh haha good timing then! Let us know what other questions we can answer

[@jesper6930]

whats up with all the cutting? filming 5 sec at a time. So enoying to watch.

[@jamesmaddren1082]

I really agree with you.

[@haroon420]

I went on Amazon the other day and they are selling cat7 and higher. !?!??

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

haroon420 for sure you can definitely find and buy cat7 and cat8. But when you consult with experts in the industry, they seem to agree cat6 and cat6a are the right choices for a home, fiber if you want anything more than what cat6a will give you.

[@miccothechoosen]

what if termination is not that perfect ? im planning to upgrade my cat6 to cat6a because of environment issue and its too far like 285m and it has to be connected to 5 switches. plz help what to do

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

should be fine. If we're being picky, it means you could have less than the full 10gbps at 100 meters, but doesn't mean you won't still have good speed. There's nothing wrong with Cat6a, I think the point is that it's not as essential as some would like to think.

[@miccothechoosen]

@@SmartHomeBrothers aahhhh . ok thank you !

[@Cogan1]

Not sure you have enough cuts in your video, should add more :)

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

totally agree should add more :) everyone starts somewhere, but we keep going

[@alexandrebouvier7731]

If you really want to be futureproof, put singlemode fiber everywhere.

[@Metalhead-4life]

Everyone always talks about the speeds but I think good shielding is more important, especially if your doin in wall runs or next to electrical. Btw blue jeans cable tests every cat6a ethernet cable b4 it ships & sends the qc sheet with it. I haven't used them yet but might be alright if you just need a few short runs cause it's pricey. The shielded monoprice cables seem quite good as well.

[@dariusEMPEROR]

fk dude! you really need to equalise your speech volume with the music level of the outro. a big no no from someone who was listening to this on the headphones

[@marlontabanaojr.5245]

nothing wrong for me. the info is what matters

[@jamesmaddren1082]

Hard g

[@rudydiaz2488]

Like the information except is (Silly) for your fried to say is hard to terminate practice makes perfect and having the right tools....

[@kalijasin]

Several things i'd like too point out. For internet sharing anything over 1Gb/s is overkill. Most broadband isps (comcast, frontier, cox, centurylink, etc.) data plans top out at 1Gb/s. Simply upgrading the cabling wont turn your network into a 10Gb/s network. You also need a router which supports 10Gb/s. Most home network routers, even the ones advertised as gaming routers, don't support 10Gb/s e.g. ROG Rapture GT-AC5300, Netgear Nighthawk AX8 (RAX80), etc. These routers are built around Wifi and get marketed as such so the wired networking part of the router has been seriously neglected both in terms of technology and quality.

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

True. Wiring alone won't do it, hardware has to support it, and that's a whole other conversation. But there is gear that will support it, and while it's less common, Clients installing it. Our Boca Raton project recently deployed a Ruckus system, and fire wall to support the higher speeds engineered by our Friends at Access Networks. But... even if you aren't getting that kind of hardware yet, there are plenty of reasons to run wire in the home so it has the headroom for 10Gb/s. Especially if you're planning to live in the home for 5-10 years.

[@arrazeenmaju9816]

Cat6 or cat6a better ?

[@TheCloserUT]

TYM I have been trying to contact you via phone and email for 2 weeks with no luck. You guys still in business?

[@SmartHomeBrothers]

Shoot me an email at [e-mail] with number I’ll call you back

[@KannonRomano]

Also the price of cat6a is still ridiculous along with ends and patch panels. Aren’t normally carried by electrical supply house. Also cat6a is extremely thick and you can’t run nearly as many wires though 1 hole compared to cat6. Your better off with fiber if u really need the distance. Or adding an IDF location

[@SwapnilBhartiya]

Please so down, no one is in rush.

[@paulyeo3468]

Hello Mat Salleh, you are speaking too fast even for a native English speaker to catch what you are saying. Take it easy bro and don't get too nervous when doing recording.

[@amirlhmzn]

I don't think he was talking too fast or being nervous while recording this.

[@LadyBovine]

I'm not a native English speaker and I didn't have a problem understanding him.