Question : Network cables: Are CAT 5, 5e, 6, 6e generally all interchangeable?

I have been tasked with purchasing 20 1-foot, 20 3-foot and 20 7-foot network cables. I popped onto Newegg.com and for roughly the same price I can get CAT 5, CAT 5E, CAT 6, CAT 6E. Common sense says get all CAT 6E for roughly the same price and be ready for future hardware upgrades. Any reason not to get CAT 6e. I Know 6 and 6e support 1000 and 5 and 5e were for 10/100 (more or less). Please advise. Detailed response welcome.

Karl

Answer : Network cables: Are CAT 5, 5e, 6, 6e generally all interchangeable?

CAT 6 is backwards compatible with CAT 5 / 5e so yep, if it's the same price you will be future-proofing!

CAT 6e does not actually exist as a standard and is used to market cable which exceeds the current CAT 6 specification in terms of loss, crosstalk and bandwidth. The next ratified standard after CAT 6 is CAT 6A which operates at higher frequencies than CAT 6 - detailed at the bottom of the following page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_6_cable