Cat 6 is the sixth generation of twisted pair Ethernet cabling that is used in home and business networks.
Cat 6 cabling is backward compatible with the Cat 5 and Cat 5e standards that preceded it.
How CAT 6 Cable Works
Category 6 cables supportGigabit Ethernetdata rates of 1gigabit per second.
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These cables can accommodate 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections over a limited distancecommonly about 180 feet for a single cable.
Using Cat 6a enables 10 Gigabit Ethernet data rates over a single cable run up to 328 feet.
Cat 6 supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet only up to 164 feet of cable length.
With the higher performance, Cat 6a cables generally cost more than Cat 6 and are slightly thicker.
Cat 6a still uses the standard RJ-45 connectors.
What is an Ethernet Cable?
One eventually became Cat 6.
The other, called Category 5 Enhanced,was standardized earlier.
Like Cat 6, Cat 5e uses a four wire-pair signaling scheme to achieve its data throughput rates.
In contrast, Cat 5 cables contain four wire-pairs but only use two of the pairs.
Cat 6 costs more than Cat 5e, so many buyers choose Cat 5e over Cat 6.
Cat 6 cabling supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections, but not at this full distance.
