Cat6GigabitCable

ReadaboutCat6Cablewhatiscat6gigabitethernetcableandwhatmakesitdifferentfromCat5E Cable? Category6cable,commonlyreferredtoasCat6,isacablestandardforGigabitEthernetandother networkprotocolsthatisbackwardcompatiblewiththeCategory5/5eandCategory3cable standards.Cat6featuresmorestringentspecificationsforcrosstalkandsystemnoise. Thecablestandardprovidesperformanceofupto250MHzandissuitablefor10BASET/100BASE TXand1000BASET(GigabitEthernet).Itisexpectedtosuitthe10GBASET(10GigabitEthernet) standard,althoughwithlimitationsonlengthifunshieldedCat6cableisused. Category6cablecanbeidentifiedbytheprintingonthesideofthecablesheath. Thecablecontainsfourtwistedcopperwirepairs,justlikeearliercoppercablestandards.Although Cat6issometimesmadewith23gaugewire,thisisnotarequirement;theANSI/TIA568B.21 specificationstatesthecablemaybemadewith22to24AWGgaugewire,solongasthecable meetsthespecifiedtestingstandards. Whenusedasapatchcable,Cat6isnormallyterminatedin8P8Cmodularconnectors,often incorrectlyreferredtoas"RJ45"electricalconnectors.Cat6connectorsaremadetohigher standardsthathelpreducenoisecausedbycrosstalkandsystemnoise.Attenuation,NEXT(NearEnd Crosstalk),andPSNEXT(PowerSumNEXT)areallsignificantlylowerwhencomparedtoCat5/5e. SomeCat6cablesaretoolargeandmaybedifficulttoattachto8P8Cconnectorswithoutaspecial modularpieceandaretechnicallynotstandardcompliant.Ifcomponentsofthevariouscable standardsareintermixed,theperformanceofthesignalpathwillbelimitedtothatofthelowest category.AswithallcablesdefinedbyANSI/TIA/EIA568B,themaximumallowedlengthofaCat6 horizontalcableis100meters(330ft)inlength,dependingupontheratioofcordlength:horizontal cablelength. ThecableisterminatedineithertheT568AschemeortheT568Bscheme.Itdoesn'tmakeany differencewhichisused,astheyarebothstraightthrough(pin1to1,pin2to2,etc).MixingT568A terminatedpatchcordswithT568Bterminatedhorizontalcables(orthereverse)doesnotproduce pinoutproblemsinafacility.Althoughitmayveryslightlydegradesignalquality,thiseffectis marginalandcertainlynogreaterthanthatproducedbymixingcablebrandsinchannel.TheT568B Schemeisbyfarthemostwidelyusedmethodofterminatingpatchcables. Crossoverisusedforhubtohub,computertocomputer,wherevertwowaycommunicationis necessary.Allgigabitethernetequipment,andmostnew10/100Mbequipment,supportsautomatic crossover,meaningthateitherastraightthroughorcrossovercablemaybeusedforany connection.However,olderequipmentrequirestheuseofastraightthroughcabletoconnecta switchtoaclientdevice,andacrossovercabletoconnectaswitchtoaswitchoraclienttoaclient. CrossovercablescanbeconstructedbywiringoneendtotheT568Aschemeandtheotherendwith

theT568Bscheme.ThiswillensurethattheTransmit(TX)pinsonbothendsarewiredthroughto theReceive(RX)pinsontheotherend. 8P8CWiring(TIA/EIA568AT568A) Pin Pair Wire Color 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8P8CWiring(TIA/EIA568BT568B) Pin Pair Wire Color 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 1 5 1 6 3 7 4 8 4 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 white/orange orange white/green blue white/blue green white/brown brown 3 3 2 1 1 2 4 4 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 white/green green white/orange blue white/blue orange white/brown brown