Choosing the right media and category of networking cables for your business can be very difficult without proper direction. The first step is simply learning about fiber CAT5e CAT6 CAT6a in Colton. We’ve put some information together to help you understand the difference and decide which is best for your business.
Optical Fiber
Optical fiber cables are different than copper cables in that they are made up of tiny filaments drawn from molten silica glass. Optical fiber cables have many advantages.
- Run for much longer distances
- Immune to electrical interference
- Immune to disturbances
- Take much less space in cable pathways
- Incredible bandwidth and transmission speed capabilities.
Depending on the transmission source technology, multimode fiber is capable of offering up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet at 550 meters. In a single-mode, you can obtain 10 Gigabit Ethernet at 40,000 meters.
CAT 5e
If you have ever heard of the Category 5 twisted pair cable, this is the superseded version. The “e” stands for enhanced, which means that the CAT5e cable can often be the best choice for small businesses. This is primarily because it is extremely cost-effective, and it allows for data to be transferred at a rate of up to 1 Gigabit per second. CAT 5e is able to operate at a frequency of 100 MHz and beyond.
CAT5e, when compared to fiber CAT5e CAT6 CAT6a, also allows for the cables to be run up to 100 meters without signal degradation. If you are a small business, you will notice when your speed decreases. With this type of cable, you will only notice a slow down of the speed due to a device on the network, rather than the cable not handling the data transfer rate.
CAT 6
The CAT6 cable adds more specifications for crosstalk than CAT5e. It is also compatible with CAT5/CAT5e systems. This is important if you decide to change your system. The most common application for CAT 6 is Gigabit Ethernet. It typically operates at a frequency of up to 250 MHz and doubles the bandwidth capability of CAT 5e. Similar to CAT 5e, CAT 6 can also be run for distances of up to 100 meters.
CAT 6A
This copper cable category takes CAT 6 one step further as compared to fiber CAT5e CAT6 CAT6a. The “a” in CAT 6A stands for augmented. In lamens terms, this means that it performs better in specific areas of crosstalk compared to Cat 6.
It is good to note that CAT 6A has been tested to 650 MHz and provides full performance out to 500 MHz. CAT 6A demonstrates a much higher capability for 10 Gigabit Ethernet, which is huge, just like other bandwidth-intensive applications.
To improve your networking cables or gather more information regarding fiber CAT5e CAT6 CAT6a in Colton, contact us at Empire Technologies by calling (909) 417-4875.
