WINNCOM RESOURCE CENTER

Webinars, White Papers, Events & More

Resources Center
SEE LATEST PROMOTIONS

Wireless Glossary

Cat-6, Category 6 Cable

Cat 6 - Category - 6, (ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1) A cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet and other interconnect that is backward compatible with Category 5 cable, Cat-5e and Cat-3. 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.

The cable contains four twisted copper wire pairs, just like earlier copper cable standards, although each twisted pair is made up of slightly larger 23 gauge copper wire as apposed to Cat 5's 24 gauge wire. When used as a patch cable, Cat-6 is normally terminated in RJ-45 electrical connectors. If components of the various cable standards are intermixed, the performance of the signal path will be limited to that of the lowest category. The distance without losing data is 220m.

Resources