What is the difference between CAT5e, CAT6 and CAT7?

Posted on 17 June 2021

There are quite a lot of different CAT-cables. But what do all those variants mean? And what is the best option? Let us explain it. First a short briefing about the differences between following standards:

CAT5(e): speeds up to 1000 Mbits/s and is suitable for Gigabit networks. The throughput is 100mhz. 
CAT6: speeds up to 10.000 Mbit/s and is suitable for 10-Gigabit networks. It has a throughput of 500mhz. 
CAT7: achieves speeds up to 10,000 Mbit/s and is suitable for 10-Gigabit networks. The throughput is from 600mhz.

Why CAT5e?

Why the ‘e’? The difference between CAT5 and Cat5e is that CAT5e has a higher throughput speed and is at least 10x faster than the older CAT5 cable. And the ‘e’ simply stands for 'Enhanced'. PROCAB has CAT5e cables designed specifically for the AV industry such as CLD500 terminated with gold plated male RJ45 connectors at both ends.

The small difference between CAT5e and CAT6

The difference between CAT5e and CAT6 is the bandwidth. This means that the amount of data that can be carried simultaneously over a given connection will be faster with a CAT6 because of its higher bandwidth.

An interesting fact is that there is a variant of the CAT6 as well, the CAT6a. The difference is that the bandwidth is 2x as high (500Mhz vs 250Mhz) allowing more data to be processed simultaneously while the speed is 10 times higher than the CAT6. We recommend the CAT6a if you have applications, such as Hi-Res Streaming Audio/Video.

Both CAT6 and CAT6a are available at PROCAB. The networking cable BTCT65S is a CAT6A. You can combine it with the modular plug VCR526A or keystone VCK526A. This combination is very handy for computer and AV networking. For the CAT6 there is the networking cable BCT60U and the VCK526 keystone.

The variation between CAT6 and CAT7

The CAT6 cables can achieve speeds of up to 1 GB/s at throughputs of 250 MHz. Due to the digitalisation, there was a stronger version needed. The CAT7 can achieve speeds of up to 10 Gb/s. The Cat7 is ideal for professional use, where a lot of data must be sent simultaneously. Or where there are peak moments in data traffic. Although it is useful to consider it anyway. The advantage of the CAT7 is that it has a longer life and is extra strong because the cables are braided inside. By installing CAT7 cable, one can already achieve high speeds: be ready for the future!

In the product range of PROCAB we have the CCT70S-Cca which is a CAT7 installation networking cable. The PNC047 is a multi-network cable consists of 4 x CAT7 LAN cable. In applications where multiple devices need to be connected over LAN cable or where redundant links need to be set up this cable is the ideal solution.