As a business owner, whether you work in an office or run your small empire from home – you’re going to want the best and fastest line speeds possible right? Absolutely, and why would you want anything that is second best? There are so many forms of data cabling out there, this article will look into just a couple and see what the best ethernet cable is. Naturally there are many considerations to make, environment, usage and costs – everything is covered in this article.
Before you consider any data cabling installations ask yourself a very easy question. Do you need a wired connection? If you and your business can survive with a simple WiFi connection, it may be considerably cheaper to install.
Wired internet connections are naturally a lot faster that wireless. If you are based in a domestic property when internet speeds may not necessarily be top of the agenda, then there is no problem with going with a more traditional wireless option.
However, if you run a business, with multiple users on the same connection, a faster, more reliable connection may be worth the extra installation costs. The connections are far more unlikely to drop out and you will get more consistent speeds.
Types of Ethernet Cable
Where you aware that there are in fact many forms of ethernet cable out there? Granted, if you’re not associated with an IT based organisation or into your tech, you may not have known this and simply assumed that all data cabling was the same. If you are looking for a data cabling installation, we have additional information about installations and types of cable here.
There are essentially four main types of ethernet cable available. These are CAT-5, CAT-5E, CAT-6 and CAT-6A.
Over time, the best ethernet cable has changed as things have evolved. The CAT-5 used to be the absolute must for wired connections. However, since the introduction of CAT-6 and CAT-6A cable, things have certainly advanced, although CAT-5 would still provide an adequate level of connection.
CAT-5 will provide you will speeds of up to 100mb/s over 100m. The CAT-5E will go that little bit further and give you an impressive 1gb/s over 100m. However, this is when the CAT-6 cabling comes into its own and really starts to show up the CAT-5.
CAT-6 and CAT-6A will both provide you with up to 10gb/s over 100m with CAT-6 providing 250mhz and the CAT-6A 500mhz.