Gigabit Ethernet Cable Length Limit

Category 5 cable cat 5 is a twisted pair cable for computer networks since 2001 the variant commonly in use is the category 5e specification cat 5e the cable standard provides performance of up to 100 mhz and is suitable for most varieties of ethernet over twisted pair up to 1000base t gigabit ethernet.

Gigabit ethernet cable length limit.

Cat 6 or better cat 6a cat 7 ethernet cable terminated with an rj 45 connector can be used to make 10g connections on copper ports. Unlike previous ethernet standards 10 gigabit ethernet defines only full duplex point to point links which are generally connected by network switches. The category 6 augmented cable standard or cat 6a was created to further improve the performance of cat 6 ethernet cables using cat 6a enables 10 gigabit ethernet data rates over a single cable run up to 328 feet. Using screened and or foiled cat5e cable there should be no problem running gigabit ethernet in your home environment for cables up to 100 meters.

10 gigabit ethernet 10ge 10gbe or 10 gige is a group of computer networking technologies for transmitting ethernet frames at a rate of 10 gigabits per second it was first defined by the ieee 802 3ae 2002 standard. Category 6 cable cat 6 is a standardized twisted pair cable for ethernet and other network physical layers that is backward compatible with the category 5 5e and category 3 cable standards. Cat 6 has to meet more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise than cat 5 and cat 5e. If you have gigabit internet 1gbps an old ethernet cable will hold you back.

1000base t also known as ieee 802 3ab is a standard for gigabit ethernet over copper wiring. The cable standard specifies performance of up to 250 mhz compared to 100 mhz for cat 5 and cat 5e. In theory for 100 meters maximum length for twisted pair cables the speed loss is around 0 3 percent duo to higher latency. Autonegotiation is a requirement for using 1000base t according to section 28d 5 extensions required for clause40 1000base t.

Each 1000base t network segment is recommended to be a maximum length of 100 meters 330 feet and must use category 5 cable or better including cat 5e and cat 6. If you have a slower connection perhaps 10 or 20 megabits per second you re good with anything cat 5 or newer. Cat 6 supports 10 gigabit ethernet only up to 164 feet of cable length. Both utp unshielded twisted pair and stp shielded twisted pair cables are supported.