What Ethernet Cable to Use? Cat5? Cat6? Cat7?

EXPLAINED: What the heck are these different cables?
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If you've ever gone to buy an internet cable, you probably saw different types available. There are Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6 and others, but which do you need? Well all of these ethernet cables will work, but there are some differences depending on the speed required. In this video I go over the different types of ethernet cables and what each one does.
My Twitter ▶ / thiojoe
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[@ThioJoe]

But the higher number must be better right?

[@jackscarce1743]

ThioJoe hi joe

[@KennethMak]

Usually I get a Cat7.

[@falsernet]

I have 12 Cat5 cables that came with my 500mbps powerline ethernet, 10 Cat5e cables that I bought, but can only run 100mbps because the two crappy laptops I use simultaneously can only handle that.

[@synth505]

Kenneth Mak Usually? So if the mood hits you just right you get a little edgy and reach for the CAT6? Ok

[@harkisingh]

ThioJoe What Ethernet cable would you recommend for a android tv

[@zmxa1]

I use a dog7

[@iiiii42]

i use dog 6

[@trippparsley9666]

I try to stick to a hamster 5

[@randyrandom5702]

I only got Dog5E

[@hansolo-que7777]

Dam I have Cow5

[@superscrillex4041]

I use urmomon4

[@SurrtanCat]

That was so easy to digest. I actually memorized all the information immediately. Very well put together.

[@pedritotaco6951]

Sultan Cat ur joking right

[@Cosplayinghuman]

@@pedritotaco6951 why dude where are you from?

[@jeremymutala7519]

He's good

[@r32juan]

@@Cosplayinghuman he memorized it *IMMEDIATELY*

[@marcoi7114]

@@pedritotaco6951 shut up fortniter

[@mikeslovak5589]

Joe: 1GB is the standard now Me with my new 10mb bandwidth "upgrade": _cries in high latency_

[@xnjian]

Me: "Yeah I probably have Cat6a" also me checking the cable: "Cat5"

[@r8v8Act0ne]

How do you check it?

[@davo7512]

Noriaki Kakyoin have a look along the cable and if it hasn’t been rubbed off it should have either 5, 5e, 6, 6a or 7

[@r8v8Act0ne]

@@davo7512 thanks

[@davo7512]

Noriaki Kakyoin 👌🏻

[@renelletan4840]

@@r8v8Act0ne welcome

[@TheSlugJones]

Wait...this is....its actually correct information.

[@Bingocat]

He's been putting out real-tech videos for a while now.

[@TheSlugJones]

Nice. Good to see.

[@paulhendrix8599]

Exactly! I'm just waiting for him to talk about cats!

[@levi5396]

ikr

[@JohnPhillips2]

Jamie Fisher www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=100+ft+cat7+ethernet+cable&tag=hydsma-20&index=aps&hvadid=177344028609&hvpos=1t2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2775418314751710006&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031240&hvtargid=aud-274086953673:kwd-193773858734&ref=pd_sl_87pn0g8214_b&gclid=CjwKEAiAlZDFBRCKncm67qihiHwSJABtoNIgwJ8NMLD8rIzO7fuk2Cadoaf2Cbm6qK-1UgZML-rHNBoCcEvw_wcB

[@PierceMD]

Obviously, setting up my 7 cats in alphabetical order would improve the efficiency of feeding.

[@harveyjames7750]

Piercerson 😂

[@falsernet]

I'm more of a dog person. WoofFi Woofless-ac

[@bertiewooster4043]

The problem I can see, in your case, would be the very high risk of cross eating or cross feeding. If the cats are not individually isolated from food interference, I would say the probability of cross feeding on a cat 7, is equal to 1!

[@rbtree]

Sure you didn't catch that itch from your girlfriend Miss Ewe?

[@MeatsackMiracle]

Be careful if their food comes in packets not to drop them!

[@ActionJackson000]

Thanks for talking without using your hands and no stupid intro with remixes. Subbed.

[@cambridgelee7742]

Same.

[@soundsolutionswithtim2285]

lol using hands is a deal breaker huh...note taken!

[@BWGPEI]

Thank you - very nicely done. FYI - we did CAT5e on the whole house years back and have had excellent speed and reliability out of that cable. It can handle a great deal more than we get from our ISP (NOT bitching about that). The wireless side of our system has be a lot more trouble and I really appreciate the CAT5e side.

[@kal9001]

Cat7 is also highly recommended for industrial applications where electrical "noise" from motors, contactors/relays, and such like can not only interrupt the data connection, but in extreme cases could also damage the NIC on either or both ends. Cat7 has each pair shielded, and the whole bundle shielded. Cat8 may never be needed as everything is moving to fibre anyway which has higher data rates than any of them, zero cross talk and zero EMI risk. Once cost's come down fibre ethernet will be in homes eventually.

[@Traumatree]

Cat7 isn't a standard and should not even be used.

[@thomaspeautre98]

The shielding is shown with UTP, FTP or STP mark, written on the cable. UTP : Unshielded Twisted Pair FTP : Fielded Twisted Pair STP : Shielded Twisted Pair STP is the best.

[@cynicaltrash4967]

ZeggiK pl0x pin

[@Xelonir]

@ZeggiK No, STP is not neccessarily the best. If you use STP cables you have to make sure everything is properly grounded, otherwise you might end up with worse performance than UTP.

[@thedaimerr]

my cable says Cat 6A ---> SSTP, whats that again? i forgot

[@Replayer81]

shielded pair, and shielded overall. ;) And exist SF/FTP, 'shielded foil'... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair#Cable_shielding

[@isak6626]

Important to add: Even the lower categories come in shielded (FTP) and unshielded (UTP) versions. Go for the shielded if you have to coil the cable somewhere, although you should avoid that at all cost. Doing so can completely kill your transfer speed.

[@Multidimensionaltravel]

Thank you good to know

[@jfsps15]

SFTP should do the trick to if someone needs to coil the cable better than FTP? I've been tearing but I don't see changes, maybe I'm not testing at the highest speed

[@raydimel5918]

Such an amazing video. You clearly explained the depths of every cable and their capabilities. Thank you.

[@blumeyoutube3699]

"1 Gigabit is now kinda the minimum" Tell that to the Australian government who is rolling out "new" infrastructure which wont go past 100 Mbps

[@Vary180]

for cables it is a minimum. not for actual internet speed lol.

[@_dylanbro]

Mexico: Hold my Beer

[@howardron543]

I can barely get 1 MB

[@gulagpatrol6408]

*Hold my Cerveza

[@roller1468]

Howard Stephen Posadas Ardon ur not alone my porn lags a lot

[@ravis.gautam2950]

The speed Test should have been performed on 100 metre cables, rather than on 1.5m cables for right benchmark.

[@user-jt1bx3fx8h]

He should spend that for credibility

[@BrokeCanadian]

2:25 Shielding isn't one of the reasons Cat 5e supports faster speeds than regular Cat 5 cables. 99.999% of Cat5e cables are UTP, not STP, yet they are all rated for 1 Gbps despite that fact. Shielding is only beneficial in very specific environments with significant electromagnetic interference. Both shielded and UNshielded Cat 5e cables otherwise have the same electrical properties.

[@CaptainScorpio24]

@@BrokeCanadian cat 6???

[@kumarp4858]

@ꀯ haha yes we are

[@MrMGR1986]

sotodll it still woulda been cool though bro

[@dbpike]

Working from home like so many others today, I got tired of tripping over all the cables on the floor running back to my router. Having access from the basement, I decided to buy a switch and run a single cable under my floor back to the router. The location was close to my electrical panel and, as such, a lot of unavoidable electrical wires to cross. I first tried a long Cat 6 cable that I had strung across the floor and got a connection speed close to that of a cheap hotel wifi. I picked up a shielded Cat 7 and voila! I was getting speeds faster than what I was paying for! I tossed all my Cat 6 patch cables and replaced with Cat 7. Seems now I should have done some testing... or watched your video sooner! :) I think the main lesson was, shielding really does work. Thanks for the great channel.

[@channelsixtyseven067]

I've got one Cat-6A installation in the wall of around 10 metres. It was put in when Cat-6A had just become available. I won't be pulling through a new Cat-7 cable with it. A 10m cable run isn't going to make much of a difference for my use. Everything else, will be done by a router from now on. Excellent video.

[@jcarey3237]

You made a pretty good attempt at covering this. The one big error is touting cat 7. Cat 7 was never recognized by the TIA or Bicsi. It came out with a proprietary connector (GG45), then an option to terminate on RJ style connectors Each pair within the cable is shielded in Cat 7. It was a train wreck. Cat 6A ratified after 7, and was what 7 should have been. All category cables are performance rated at 100 meters, except for Cat 8. They were initially rated in MHz carried (while having positive electrical attributes like crosstalk and attenuation), instead of megabits or gigabits of bandwidth carried. Goofy, I know. But higher MHz capacity equated to higher bandwidth in throughput. Summary: Cat 5e = 100 MHz with 100mb typically, and 1Gb on good installs with good 5e (quality matters) Cat 6 = 250 MHz with 1Gb, not 10G Cat 6a = 500 MHz with 10G throughput at 100 meters. It's the defacto standard for today's professional structured cabling installations. Cat 7 = 600 MHz and Irrelevant, as it's not used anywhere. If you get a "cat 7" cable off Amazon or somewhere, it's likely a Chinese shielded 5e or 6. Cat 7 relies heavily on shielding in the cable, while 6a does not require that. There are shielded options for all other previous "cat x" categories, but they're just options for high interference installations. Cat 8 = 2000 MHz with 25G and 40G throughput, but at only 30 meters. Data center application for shorter distances. Not for workstation applications.

[@chomp7927]

True on all points, but while not actually certified at 10 G, Cat 6 can do 10 G reliably at under 120 feet per run, and in theory all the way out to 180 or 183 feet depending on who you ask. It's not certified for 10 G because it doesn't reach the 100 m spec but for home wiring it is fine, 6 runs into problems with serious cable density or high interference which is why 6A is the new standard for horizontal wiring (not literally horizontal, its an industry term) Not saying you're wrong because you are spot on, but for the real world uses of anyone watching this video, wiring your house with 6 is still a great suggestion for a 10 G future ready platform. The odds that you'll have a run over 120 feet long (or 180) is really low, if so either you need to rethink how you run cables or you have an income to get a house large enough that 6A is easily affordable. The biggest thing I've noticed to be an issue is actually in the termination of the cable and making sure you maintain the proper spec for maintaining the twist of the cable into the jack. If a home user can plan out runs under approx 150 feet and maintain good discipline in finishing the connectors you'll be fine. Just in case the average home owner comes here and wants to install a 10 G system in their own house

[@joec9263]

Brandon Roth Yes one can get 10G on shorter lengths of cat 6. But I've seen test equipment replicating how noise injected on a line (think home electrical wire running all over, and category cabling next to it or crossing it repeatedly) causes video degradation in the form of 'snow' and dropped frames. It will cause the same issues on VoIP. And pathway sizes in houses certainly be a concern too. I acknowledge that as a real issue in some cases. But in many commercial applications, wiring is better routed and low volt cabling is kept 2" or more away from power. Residential wiring is generally installed as the crow flies, and much less carefully with regard to EMI and/or other electrical noises that can couple on a line. Just a consideration. I'd run 6A every chance I could. It is designed to be much more immune to outside interference. Lower categories were concerned primary with internal noise between the pairs. 6A is designed to also mitigate external noise from other cables and anything else. Until residential speeds are higher, none of this matters much just yet. Terminations are probably the biggest general issue with performance though. You're right about that. Kinking with amateur installations might be second, followed by the EMI issues of installing by power. All my observations.

[@MasterChief-sl9ro]

The higher the rated Frequency the more you will get attenuation. Which is why they rate over distance. You can run a CAT 5e farther then a CAT 6e. As the attenuation is lower on the CAT 5e. This is the issue with ever greater frequency a cable can carry. As you can't break Ohms law...

[@jasonvanner3976]

Joe C Dang I wish I had more than an elementary level understanding of what you guys are talking about.

[@smellcaster]

10 Gigabit Copper Connections will die out because of the Energy Consumption. Network Cards consuming 20-30 Watts ? there's no Way that will survive.

[@HexylvaniaFilms]

This was like the most honest review ever.

[@scottmichael3745]

Great video!!! I NOW understand the whole "cat, 5, 6, 7" crap!. Thanks man, truly!

[@BenjaminDenverstone]

I moved into my current apartment just over two months ago. When I was getting my CenturyLink modem setup, I noticed that my apartment was outfitted with Cat 5e! Thank you for this video!

[@michaelsasso13]

You need to test the speeds at the max cable lengths that they all support, such as 50m. It would also be helpful to see the impact of interference elements such as fluorescent lights and power lines on each cable type.

[@Mister6]

I had to roll out Cat7 cable in a nursing home where the original data cablers messed up and ran Telco everywhere instead of Cat5e as specified. The data ducts where all closed up so we had to trace the cables along the power lines (nursing home, no drilling allowed once the residents moved in). Unlike previous standards, the internal shielding of Cat7 allows it to be run alongside power cables. Super-expensive work-around but the only option we had at the time.

[@susangolden7383]

Thanks for the explanation of cable differences. I am running an exterior line to my she-shed from the house connection, as my wireless option is inconsistent. The Spectrum guy said Cat 5, so I needed to know what the variations meant! I checked out a lot of videos and yours was the best.: simple, direct, and no long introduction to assault my senses. Thanks so much!!!

[@urbanws1234]

Butch

[@JohnDoe-dj3xh]

I've found that in my experience CAT 7 is also super important if you have for example a multi node rack mount server with the nodes talking to each other over these cables especially if you have 3 or more nodes as the number of these wires sending different information in extremely close proximity leads to reliability issues without sheilding.

[@keiyakins]

How many people have that in their home, though?

[@johnathanheatherman6438]

​@keiyakins do you not?

[@rip9959]

This isn't helpful I only have 2 cats

[@whys]

jesse musgrove ok

[@zen5066]

xd

[@josephking7948]

If they haven't been fixed and are of the opposite sex, you may get a Cat 3 (once it has grown up) and be able to connect your telephones.

[@not_adrs]

Joseph King well 1 cat was the old telephone standard and you can still use it so in theory they could have 2 telephone connections without breeding the cats.

[@abdullaho.r.8493]

Then yiu should stick with the Cat2 cable 😂

[@MrGillymot]

I love listening to you, you explain things so we can understand . Thats great. Thanks.

[@digavalliramachandra4504]

useful and informative for people like me who are not technical geeks. In fact recently when I wanted to buy internet cable for my desktop connecting ACT fibernet I was searching on the net as to what is cat 5 and cat 6. Thanks for clearly explaining.

[@nnn9695]

I don't get it. My cable starts meowing when I try to plug it in.

[@BlockedUser1]

r/CursedComments

[@ticktockbam]

Sir, that's your cat. I'm calling animal protection (not PETA).

[@SonataNoKami]

Sir, that’s your cat. I’m calling animal protection (PETA).

[@andycornejo2361]

I use a pocket pussy

[@IM714Z21]

Andy Cornejo sidemen

[@richteruan]

1GBps is your minimum damn I'm running here on 20mbps and the fastest I can go is 50mbps

[@tescocarpark1084]

I've got 500 kbps

[@jordancaddy2753]

I was running 3mbps I’ve now got 900mb since I’ve moved

[@redacted5692]

8kbps

[@DieselPLL]

@@redacted5692 56k dialup here):

[@mmminteresting2440]

I was shocked that for him it's 1gb because I thought a 50-100mb mbps is the standard

[@rjalden6359]

I run cabling for businesses mainly like Target, Walmart and all. I know that in Walmart remodels they still put in Cat5e as new. At Target, any cable that needs to be replaced, doesn't matter if it's for a camera, printer, Workstation, they get Cat6A. Looks like Target is future proofing. Some have older 2960 Cisco switches still but most have the 3850s

[@ericprice3225]

I noticed by biggest difference moving to shielded cables. Switching from CAT 5e to a full blown CAT 6 S/FTP cable gave me an increase of just under 50%. I also replaced the manufacturer supplied modem cable (we mostly still have regular ADSL lines where I am) with a shielded cable with RJ11 connectors at each end and the overall line speed increased by nearly 80%.

[@anisexpert4604]

Hey man I'm still struggling too with ADSL in my place , can you please explain for me more about things you did to improve ?

[@reflex1749]

Every time he says “test”. I think about when he made me wrap my phone charger around a pen to get better cellular connection. You got me lol

[@yoxyo2604]

Wait does that actually work? Like will my phone charge faster?

[@okaymar]

YOXYO nah lmao it was a joke video

[@papilloneffect4015]

This is that dude that breaks peoples computers with his troll videos.

[@Xenophlanes]

Papillon Effect ?

[@CalizpzZ0]

He never broke compurers, tutorials were just silly

[@KevinP32270]

YES, YES, YES, LOLOL

[@PaulA-um9zw]

Thanks for the info, it certainly cleared up alot of questions on my part. I need to rewire the house and this helped.

[@Davethreshold]

EXCELLENT! One-shot quick explanation. Mine seem to be all 5E. I'm going to do what you did with Cat 7 router to switch.

[@ErnestGWilsonII]

Thank you for taking the time to make this video and share it with all of us. If you ever redo this video or come back and revisit this topic, can you please make the test using longer cables? I suspect you will see differences as you approach the hundred meter mark. As always thumbs up and I am subscribed with notifications turned on!

[@erinrooney4128]

thank you! that was really helpful! i wasnt sure what was best for buying for University but 6 or 5e are best from your info.

[@tevs4700]

Cat5: 100mbps max bandwidth (Discontinued) up to 100 meters of length 100mhz speed Cat5e: 1000mbps max bandwidth up to 100 meters of length 100mhz speed Cat6: 10gbps max bandwidth up to 55 meters of length 250mhz speed Cat6a: 10gbps max bandwidth up to 100 meters of length 500mhz speed Cat7: 10gbps max bandwidth 600mhz speed Companies that claim to have "The Super And New Cat8" are most of the time lying

[@nolanpoitras8207]

Tevs (cat5 is not discontinued) I seen it at Lowe’s when I was picking up cat5e

[@rubenjanse3065]

@@nolanpoitras8207 I have a CAT5 cable running from the router to my room. Didn't realize it's outdated though, yet it still seems to work at 250+ Mbps. It says CAT5 (Gigabit Tested).

[@MultiMagicGamers]

So Cat5e is all that's needed for most internet connections?

[@tevs4700]

@@MultiMagicGamers yep

[@markwflyge]

CAT-5e is fine for any use you have. Anything better you won't see the benefit. It's only if you need higher bandwidth at 250 ft or more.

[@varkesgoetcherian1767]

Brilliant breakdown of the different Cats. Thanks.

[@nabilrizki]

when you don't need notification cos you're on KZbin 24/7

[@Exachad]

Same!

[@HShango]

Exactly (same here) :3

[@DanielDTUBWeinberger]

truth (im not though ;-;)

[@EcuaBlackOps212]

all of you should get a job lazy ass

[@jasonvanner3976]

John S better yet, having a job that allows you to watch KZbin 23:55/7 lol

[@montanaprepper3926]

Cat7 really shines in mobile wireless applications where there are boosted 4glte antennas and wifi crammed within 25 feet of each other. The extra shielding in cat7 reduces or eliminates EM interferences especially when you install a EMF magnet in the line close to the input.

[@Renkinjutsushi]

Excellent video. I'm planning out wiring my house and this video really helped me make my cable selection.

[@Bobby-xd4se]

Thanks for making the video Thio. It will help me choose the right cable for my laptop.

[@nedeljkodukic7279]

I was going to buy a Cat7 for home gaming, but after watching this video and seeing those results, I am just gonna stick with the Cat5e. Will save money on the 35ft roll which will cost me 15$ instead of 50$. Thanks, it was very interesting and informative.

[@jollyrogerhobbies2386]

Go with a 6, 6a if you are doing a long run. Better shielding and will still have good connectivity for the future

[@gbinman]

In a home network Cat5E will do just fine. The high spec cable only is needed with many very long runs.

[@ludwigmaxwell8861]

Thank for the great info, this has cleared up many question!

[@Runawaygeekchannel]

Thanks, running about 30 meters in my house, good to know my cat6a will be fine for a while.

[@dhey007]

Great job explaining and breaking down the different types. Advertising nowadays is usually more confusing than helpful. Thanks!

[@sammymorini9748]

Quick and easy theoretical bandwidth speed chart 100MB (100Mbit) / 8 = ~12.5MB/s 1000MB (1Gbit) / 8 = ~125MB/s 10000MB (10Gbit) / 8 = ~1250MB/s (~1.25GB/s) why divide by 8? because there are 8 bits per byte.

[@CutiePi]

Sammy Morini thank you finally someone who knows the difference in b & B.

[@ramunasgudauskas7582]

Sometimes its weird how people dont even know that , then complain why their 10 mbps internet for example only gives some 1.25mb/s of speed in downloads.

[@JacovanIterson]

Ethernet is 10bits per byte and then you have the overhead and the gaps between the packets, and then the TCP/IP overhead so that is way to high.

[@AWD_DSM_FTW]

No. Ethernet doesn't have anything to do with bit-rate, how many bits in a byte, or anything like that. The overhead of the TCP stack though, is definitely a legitimate statement. What @Sammy was saying, is only further demonstrated by this, Jacob. His numbers are theoretical, and very generous (and nearly attainable with a connection such as UDP).

[@MaYeRsNoLife]

wrong 1 gbit = 1024 mbit = 128 m download speed .

[@tedrowland1345]

First time viewer of your channel. Great video. I do wish you had pointed out to your viewers that if they were going to put permanent cables in the walls and ceiling, that they should use plenum cable. These have no "toxic fumes" in fire/ over heating, because of different coatings on the cables. You might also point out that the extra shielding eliminates interference from fluorescent fixtures. Given the amount of CFL's in use now in recessed fixtures, it is note worthy. For anyone doing home recording studios, the extra shielding is a must. Again, loved your vid.

[@Xnoob545]

Just recently removed the only CFL lightbulb at home It's wild to me that people even use these anymore Bad color quality + slightly dangerous = not a good light

[@MrScoop65]

Thank you so much, Thiojoe for your explanations on the different Cat #'s. I was told by an AT&T technician that if I wanted to get off my wifi at my home, I should just connect an Ethernet Cable to my modem and laptop, but I had no idea which cat # to use. After watching your video I know that a cat 6 is what I will use. Thanks for clearing that up! Extremely helpful for technological morons like myself. LOL. I'm rooting for the return of the IBM Selectric III typerwriter! lol. I have definitely added a shortcut of your site to my face screen. Thanks!Kirk :)

[@letthatsimmer]

One of the best explanations I have found to make it easily digestible thank you

[@marcguimaraes]

You are fantastic as usual. Thank you for the advice 👍👍🤗

[@TheCanadianWelder]

Thank you! I've been looking all over for this information, and finally here it is, all wrapped up in a well-organized presentation. Much appreciated.

[@johnstonewall917]

Great video, clear, concise and straight to the point.

[@gordorr9259]

Such a good presentation I only paid attention to maybe 30% of what you said, all I really wanted to know could have been compressed into 5 minutes or less, I like your enthusiasm, it's contagious.

[@frankthedsigner558]

Super informative and very helpful to explain my poor connection. Definitely opting for the Cat7 cable to future proof my home. Thanks for the video!

[@danf1919]

Thank you! Told me exactly what I needed to know 👌🏻

[@jameshaley8162]

...I haven't seen anything 'out there' but CAT-5 cable, ThioJoe. I use CAT-5 for my home network which consists of several ten plus year old desktops. Tinkering around with computers are one of my ''Hey, I'm retired and this is what I like to do'' hobbies. I did not know about the CAT 6a or the Cat 7, which seems to be more for commercial use as in Servers of 'In The Cloud' storage units. So, I learned something today, ThioJoe....now to retain it. Thanks for the video. It was informative.

[@waynepowell567]

Excellent info here in a very hyped market. Thanks for sharing this edification as it is much appreciated.

[@detch5307]

Excellent explanation. Good job! I just threw a CAT5 cable into the trash can.

[@josephjones6086]

Couldve used it for other stuff

[@SusanforSLCAquatics]

Thank you for this great video! A very informative content!

[@JacksonJonez]

My WiFi is being annoying today so this video helped me make the decision to game with a cable 😀

[@willcline7992]

Here are a few lessons learned from hard experience in my house ethernet wiring. My house was built in 2000 and was wired for coax and ethernet. Fast forward to 2021 and I wanted to run an AX WiFi router to get Gigabit WiFi speeds and needed at least a Gigabit backhaul wired connection to my cable modem. I had already upgraded my switches to Gigabit and could not understand why the best speed I could get was about 50 Megabits. I asked for help from the cable company and a knowledgeable technician informed me that my cables were terminated wrong for Gigabit and were wired for 10/100 Megabit. So I proceeded to replace the connectors with properly wired connectors. But could not get them to work properly. My cable tester would always give some pair of intermittent signals. I thought it was my connector work but after multiple efforts, I then looked at the cable and it was Cat 5 cable. All the runs were doubled down to my patch panel in the garage and then back up to the second floor so too long for Cat 5. I knew all my other components were good because a long patch cable from the cable modem to my AX router delivered about 500 Megabits. So yes the cables make a difference and so do the connector wiring scheme.

[@jasoncatlyn7331]

Thanks for the info, needed it! 👌

[@rhodges26]

When I worked at HP/EDS we used 10 gig switches, we had over 300,000 connections coming in at any given time. We supported the Airlines industries and Sabre.

[@mwilliamshs]

Randall hodges how's Sabre doing now that they sold Dundee Mifflin back to David Wallace?

[@preetjaswal2483]

Which Sabre are you talking about?

[@dianamurphy3379]

Thank you! You made this very easy for me to understand, and I desperately needed to learn this!!

[@simoncarter5233]

Thanks for making the information clear and helping me to choose the correct cable.

[@dfriendly1966]

Exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks ThioJoe.

[@TheMr5x]

As somebody who specifically works with network cable, I can tell you that Cat7 well much better for POE (power over Ethernet) in the future, with higher voltage tolerance then a cat6 or cat5e. For commercial usage, acsses points and phones are powered from the switch. However, more power hungry equipment will start to be added into the network in the near future, (Lights, small computers and door access) are the ones I can think of and door access is already on Poe anyway.

[@SimplyTechKey]

I've been following your videos lately.. super informative ,nice videos

[@Reznov0ps143]

Thank you for teaching me about this. Learned something new :)

[@s9209122222]

It has been 15 years since I moved to the new house, the Cat.5E cable still hasn't reached its limit.

[@morbidmanatee5550]

I wired my house with Cat6. Works great! Definitely getting the right bandwidth!

[@bucky2292]

thanks for update !! cleared up alot of questions, thanks Thio !!

[@7Bydand9]

Another cracking video Thio Joe, that was informative, interesting & enjoyable to listen in,, thank you so much for taking the time to post & more importantly sharing

[@marlonlyn2719]

If possible, it would be really cool to see a comparison of customizing / shortening the cables or installing it on punchdowns. One really cool benefit of cat5e is it's relative moderate ability to add a rj45 connector and still get gig speeds. I still mess up and have to re-cable ends at times.

[@LineofSighted]

4:34 "Cat5e, Cat56." XD Great Video.

[@anthonybethlen5549]

Your videos are very helpful and informative. Thanks for taking the time

[@insertgoodname4809]

Excellent vid. Got EXACTLY the info I was looking for.

[@ellhullio26]

I remember dealing with standards as old as CAT3 ethernet, still RJ45, but 10baseT, a 10Mbps transfer rate. That was more than good enough for afew DOS and Linux computers sharing a dot-matrix printer.

[@m.calduron6329]

hey, thanks for posting your video...found it very helpful. Herman C.

[@ChipVorhies]

Very well done and understandable. Especially for us electronically challenged people!

[@parsec7799]

Thanks, easy to understand explanation. I have wondered about these differences.

[@simonlakin5067]

Hi Thio, I’m a network cabling engineer in the uk. Most people in there homes don’t even plug in their equipment and rely on the WIFI from their router. Network cabling is mainly used for business and institutions. The highest specs are used in data centres where all of the cloud based stuff we use is stored. Great video thanks for taking the time to do the test. 👍

[@Karnalzion]

Might be true in your country but in the rest of the world there is alot of high end gamers and a true gamer uses a cable because its reiliable :) Ofcourse there is a few that uses wifi but the mejority uses cables

[@KevinBenecke]

Here's something to consider too. Even for home use. Cat5e may be good for most situations. But if you have a lot of devices to wire up off of various switches and from a router, for me I use a cat6 cable as the main wire feeding the router and each switch. For the branch wire feeding the devices, some have the cat5e. I haven't gotten around to replacing them plus I can be a cheapskate. But I used the higher quality wire as the main wire so it can better handle the traffic from multiple devices at once. The cat5e that is feeding each device only has to handle 1 device. So if your like me, I would recommend at least replacing the main wire feeding your router and switches. It's not quite as necessary for the ones going to the device. I did replace the cat5e that feeds my Xbox with the better cable. But other than that, the cat5e serves me just fine. But there can be one other thing to consider that buying the better cables may help. If your having problems receiving radio such as AM/FM for example. Or if your someone who is into things like amateur radio that transmits radio signals, the better wire with better shielding such as the cat7 may be a good choice to help keep out all of the extra radio signals that can be floating around. Especially if your computer and radio equipment are in close proximity of each other.

[@KevinBenecke]

One other thing, if your building a house and wiring it with internet, future-proof your house and just bite the bullet and put the cat7 or whatever the best Ethernet cable is at the time (I say at the time because I'm sure that at some point a better wire will come out since this post. If they come out with a cat10 cable, get it) in while the walls are open. And by using the cable with the better shielding helps to better protect it while in the walls. Don't forget the your electrical wiring is in the walls as well. This could also include phone wiring and TV cable as well as other possible wires which at some point will end up crossing one another. Don't forget the electric wire has no shielding and 90% of the tme, your internet wire and the wires to power your computer and equipment come close together. By using the best cable will help to shield out any interference that could happen because of the other wires.

[@techadmirer6475]

this has been the first vidio i wathced and took notes on for Ethernet cables and internet speeds, i Find it very usefull and now i believ i have the information to look for a good cable. Thank you.

[@techadmirer6475]

I have found their's now (at least supposedly) Cat7a and Cat8. BTW i'm geting Cat6a for my gameing needs.

[@marydrayer2792]

thank you for explaining the differences! - i totally understood it - 2 thumbs up

[@ab5865303929]

cool shirt

[@ThioJoe]

but it's just a black t shirt

[@ab5865303929]

ThioJoe lol from where

[@Jones12ax7]

there's a black hole picture at the the front

[@ThioJoe]

an bo: target

[@HappyHusbandnWife]

lol

[@deadchannel5933]

I use a CAT 5e ethernet cable. Trust me, it's still very great even today! It has that nice 1 Gigabit per second internet speed.

[@monta9633]

What game system do you play on

[@brianbreslin3215]

I just bought a Bluesound Node2i. It came with CAT5e. Listening to it with this cable in place made me think that I had made a mistake. I bought a not-very-expensive CAT8 cable. Pretty much every aspect of sound reproduction got better, a lot better. With the CAT8 in place, I got sound that was better than my last setup which included Ultrarendu, Uptone LPS 1.2, and Inakustic USB ($350 just for the cable). And this was using the included coax, which I will be upgrading with a Pangea.

[@KandyKidraver15]

The most entertaining aspect of this video is watching to see how long you could speak without blinking. Presentation is great but the extended eye contact was intense. LOL thank you for quality content.

[@eazthitman]

I ran cat 6 to my loft but although I got the job done in the end, it was a nightmare trying to put on the rj45 connector. I had to buy connectors that were designed for cat6 but they were still very difficult. I also found that the wires snapped quite easily which is a big concern. I dont think you can properly test these cables unless you run them very long distances like 100m. I would like to see that test.

[@ravis.gautam2950]

In January 2019, my ISP in Bangalore called ACT Fibernet has replaced the cable from Cat-5 to Cat-5e between the fiber optic terminal to my router. Hence I upgraded my lan cables from Cat-5 to Cat-6, and also upgraded my plan from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

[@mdyusufansari8897]

what

[@indiawest2025]

Amazing so, any results.

[@sajwayy]

very informative. you clarified the differences using actual practical sense.

[@UberNeuman]

Thank you for the quick and informative explanation of these cables. Some other channels would have ten minutes of nonsense before offering anything that helps. Going to get some CAT-6 cables - now that I understand what it means. lol.

[@vinylmonster4907]

difference was huge for me especially when it came to transfer speeds within my home network from PC to NAS devices - also improved bandwidth to those devices and completely did away with all the periodic inconvenient drop outs, That was CAT5E to CAT7 - now I am changing to CAT8 and expect more improvements so thats me and my experience!

[@jackfrosty4674]

no takee the shottte as is a biooweapon to make sick world and have less people. save self. cennsoring and deleting sickening and deatth ratess.

[@OT-tn7ci]

where are you getting cat 8 from ?

[@catminister1075]

@@OT-tn7ci I found CAT8 Ethernet cables of varying lengths on Amazon Australia. I've swapped all my Ethernet cables to CAT8 and noticed huge improvements to.

[@OT-tn7ci]

@@catminister1075 oooh, improvement in speed and what length cable?

[@catminister1075]

@@OT-tn7ci improvement specifically in regards to drop-outs, network transfer speeds of large video files from PC or Laptop to 10gbe NAS, especially over longer distances and cable lengths. I use shorter cabled for switches, router/modem and longer to reach other rooms and devices since I try to avoid wireless use.

[@NoFace-Killah]

The real way to "Double Your Internet Speed for Free"

[@NightcoreLabOfficial]

TheBestWatson Ya free

[@davesimpson8021]

Nightcore Lab

[@NightcoreLabOfficial]

Dave Simpson Hello

[@cryptedyt7915]

Nightcore Lab hi senpie

[@olechuga2]

Confusing subject matter, however, now, with your provided information, a better understanding of it. Thank you, Sir.

[@craventopseyii2342]

Very helpful bro as I prepare for a help desk job here in Belize. Thanks a lot