Most Common Cabling Questions We're Asked
What is Cat5e and Cat6 Comparison - What is Bandwidth - What is Data Transfer Rate - What are the advantages to Cat6 Cabling - What is Cat 5e Cable - What is Cat6 Cable - What is Cat6A Cable - What are Bits - What are Fiber Optic Cables - Cat6 verse Cat6A - What is the Cost for a Cable project - What is a Patch Panel -
Cat5e and Cat6 Comparison
Why do I need all the bandwidth of category 6? As far as I know, there is no application today that requires 200 MHz of bandwidth?
Bandwidth precedes data rates just as highways come before traffic. Doubling the bandwidth is like adding twice the number of lanes on a highway. The trends of the past and the predictions for the future indicate that data rates have been doubling every 18 months. Current applications running at 1 Gb/s are really pushing the limits of category 5e cabling. Streaming media applications such as video and multimedia become commonplace. Ironically, one of the drivers for getting more bandwidth on a wired network is demand for wireless connnections. As more employees bring phones and tablets to work they will want to connect via Wi-Fi. The demands for faster data rates will increase and spawn new applications that will benefit from the higher bandwidth offered by category 6. This is exactly what happened in the early 90’s when the higher bandwidth of category 5 cabling compared to category 3 caused most LAN applications to choose the better media to allow simpler, cost effective, higher speed LAN applications, such as 100BASE-TX. Note: Bandwidth is defined as the highest frequency up to which positive power sum ACR (Attenuation to Crosstalk Ratio) is greater than zero.
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Why do I need all the bandwidth of category 6? As far as I know, there is no application today that requires 200 MHz of bandwidth?
Bandwidth precedes data rates just as highways come before traffic. Doubling the bandwidth is like adding twice the number of lanes on a highway. The trends of the past and the predictions for the future indicate that data rates have been doubling every 18 months. Current applications running at 1 Gb/s are really pushing the limits of category 5e cabling. Streaming media applications such as video and multimedia become commonplace. Ironically, one of the drivers for getting more bandwidth on a wired network is demand for wireless connnections. As more employees bring phones and tablets to work they will want to connect via Wi-Fi. The demands for faster data rates will increase and spawn new applications that will benefit from the higher bandwidth offered by category 6. This is exactly what happened in the early 90’s when the higher bandwidth of category 5 cabling compared to category 3 caused most LAN applications to choose the better media to allow simpler, cost effective, higher speed LAN applications, such as 100BASE-TX. Note: Bandwidth is defined as the highest frequency up to which positive power sum ACR (Attenuation to Crosstalk Ratio) is greater than zero.
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What it Bandwidth?
Bandwidth describes the maximum data transfer rate of a network or Internet connection. It measures how much data can be sent over a specific connection in a given amount of time. For example, a gigabit Ethernet connection has a bandwidth of 1,000 Mbps, (125 megabytes per second). An Internet connection via cable modem may provide 25 Mbps of bandwidth. While bandwidth is used to describe network speeds, it does not measure how fast bits of data move from one location to another.
Since data packets travel over electronic or fiber - optic cables, the speed of each bit transferred is negligible. Instead, bandwidth measures how much data can flow through a specific connection at one time.
When visualizing bandwidth, it may help to think of a network connection as a tube and each bit of data as a grain of sand. If you pour a large amount of sand into a skinny tube, it will take a long time for the sand to flow through it. If you pour the same amount of sand through a wide tube, the sand will finish flowing through the tube much faster. Similarly, a download will finish much faster when you have a high-bandwidth connection rather than a low-bandwidth connection.
Data often flows over multiple network connections, which means the connection with the smallest bandwidth acts a bottleneck. Generally, the Internet backbone and connections between servers have the most bandwidth, so they rarely serve as bottlenecks. Instead, the most common Internet bottleneck is your connection to your ISP.
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Bandwidth describes the maximum data transfer rate of a network or Internet connection. It measures how much data can be sent over a specific connection in a given amount of time. For example, a gigabit Ethernet connection has a bandwidth of 1,000 Mbps, (125 megabytes per second). An Internet connection via cable modem may provide 25 Mbps of bandwidth. While bandwidth is used to describe network speeds, it does not measure how fast bits of data move from one location to another.
Since data packets travel over electronic or fiber - optic cables, the speed of each bit transferred is negligible. Instead, bandwidth measures how much data can flow through a specific connection at one time.
When visualizing bandwidth, it may help to think of a network connection as a tube and each bit of data as a grain of sand. If you pour a large amount of sand into a skinny tube, it will take a long time for the sand to flow through it. If you pour the same amount of sand through a wide tube, the sand will finish flowing through the tube much faster. Similarly, a download will finish much faster when you have a high-bandwidth connection rather than a low-bandwidth connection.
Data often flows over multiple network connections, which means the connection with the smallest bandwidth acts a bottleneck. Generally, the Internet backbone and connections between servers have the most bandwidth, so they rarely serve as bottlenecks. Instead, the most common Internet bottleneck is your connection to your ISP.
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[Q] What is Fiber Optic Cable?
[A] A technology that uses glass (or plastic) threads (fibers) to transmit data. A fiber optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages modulated onto light waves.
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[A] A technology that uses glass (or plastic) threads (fibers) to transmit data. A fiber optic cable consists of a bundle of glass threads, each of which is capable of transmitting messages modulated onto light waves.
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[Q] Difference in Cat6 verse Cat6a?
[A] Speed and Distance. Cat6 cable is rated for 250MHz, so it has a reduced maximum length of 55 meters (180ft) when used for 10GBASE-T applications. Cat6a doubles that capability by performing at up to 550MHz, which allows 10GBASE-T to be run over longer distances of up to 100 meters (328ft).
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[A] Speed and Distance. Cat6 cable is rated for 250MHz, so it has a reduced maximum length of 55 meters (180ft) when used for 10GBASE-T applications. Cat6a doubles that capability by performing at up to 550MHz, which allows 10GBASE-T to be run over longer distances of up to 100 meters (328ft).
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[Q] How much will a Cable project usually cost?
[A] The cost will vary depending on 4 factors. The first factor is the building. Both the age and layout of the building can have a significant impact on data cabling costs. It's typically easier, and therefore cheaper, to wire a newer building or one that doesn't require running cable through difficult-to-access spaces. Also, depending on where the cable needs to be run, it might be pricier. For example, in so-called plenum spaces, (those that accommodate air-conditioning systems) plenum cabling (which costs more than non-plenum cabling) which is always required due to local building fire codes. The second factor is the number of drops required. We charge for each location requiring a network connection. The third factor is the condition of the previous infrastructure. When adding data wiring to a space with decent existing infrastructure or to new construction which is usually less costly than trying to upgrade a problematic wiring installation. In fact, in the case of the latter, the system is often completely gutted and built from scratch. The forth factor is quality of material. Cabling is sold in different gauges Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6A: Cat5 is being phased out, Cat 5e is sufficient for most businesses, Cat6 offers more bandwidth and supports up to 10GbE and Cat6a is even more expensive but required to meet certain environmental conditions. Finally, at the top of the performance scale are fiber optics cables and coaxial, and they can double the cost of a data cable installation that uses copper wiring.
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[A] The cost will vary depending on 4 factors. The first factor is the building. Both the age and layout of the building can have a significant impact on data cabling costs. It's typically easier, and therefore cheaper, to wire a newer building or one that doesn't require running cable through difficult-to-access spaces. Also, depending on where the cable needs to be run, it might be pricier. For example, in so-called plenum spaces, (those that accommodate air-conditioning systems) plenum cabling (which costs more than non-plenum cabling) which is always required due to local building fire codes. The second factor is the number of drops required. We charge for each location requiring a network connection. The third factor is the condition of the previous infrastructure. When adding data wiring to a space with decent existing infrastructure or to new construction which is usually less costly than trying to upgrade a problematic wiring installation. In fact, in the case of the latter, the system is often completely gutted and built from scratch. The forth factor is quality of material. Cabling is sold in different gauges Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6A: Cat5 is being phased out, Cat 5e is sufficient for most businesses, Cat6 offers more bandwidth and supports up to 10GbE and Cat6a is even more expensive but required to meet certain environmental conditions. Finally, at the top of the performance scale are fiber optics cables and coaxial, and they can double the cost of a data cable installation that uses copper wiring.
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