Hello sabluki-ga,
Thank-you for your question.
It is difficult to judge the amount of technical detail you require by
the question you have posted so I have attempted to answer the
question with a few links of different complexity. In simple terms,
the Cat-6 cables allow faster ethernet speeds due to the configuration
amd make-up of the physical cable.
"Category 5 cable, commonly known as Cat 5, was an unshielded twisted
pair type cable designed for high signal integrity. With the 2001
introduction of the TIA/EIA-568-B standard, the category 5 cabling
specification was obsoleted and superseded by the category 5e
specification."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable
"Category 6 cable, (ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1) is a cable standard for
Gigabit Ethernet and other network protocols that is backward
compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable standards.
Cat-6 features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system
noise. The cable standard is suitable for 10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX and
1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet) connections."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_6_cable
"CAT6 cable contains four pairs of copper wire and unlike CAT5,
utilizes all four pairs. CAT6 supports Gigabit (1000 Mbps) Ethernet
and supports communications at more than twice the speed of CAT5e, the
other popular standard for Gigabit Ethernet cabling."
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/cat5cables/l/bldef_cat6.htm
"As network speeds increased, however, there was concern that Category
3 cabling would not support those higher speeds due to crosstalk and
other potential problems. That's where Category 5 cabling came in.
With more twists per inch, Category 5 cabling became the solution of
choice for CDDI (FDDI over copper) and Fast Ethernet (100BASE-T).
Category 5 cabling was much cheaper to pull than fiber.
Today, Category 6 cabling has emerged as the next evolution in copper,
with hopes that it will support Gigabit Ethernet and even higher
speeds."
http://www.wkmn.com/newsite/cables.html
Detailed information on each cable type can be found here:
http://www.siemon.com/us/standards/5elimits.asp
http://www.siemon.com/us/standards/6limits.asp
If you require any further assistance on this subject please do not
hesitate to ask for clarification.
Further information:
http://www.siemon.com/us/standards/
http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/technology/cat6/faq.cfm
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/cat5cables/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet#Varieties_of_Ethernet |
