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CAT 5 vs. WiFi 7
Posted on 1/31/23 at 3:47 pm
Posted on 1/31/23 at 3:47 pm
With WiFi 7 coming in 2024, does it even make sense to contemplate replacing the existing CAT 5 with CAT 6/6e for a house?
8
Posted on 1/31/23 at 4:16 pm to Will Cover
Wifi is never a replacement for hardwire.
Posted on 1/31/23 at 4:17 pm to Will Cover
That depends on what you plan to do on your home network and what your current cat5 is capable of. Is it cat5 or 5e? Is it capable of gigabit to all the drops you have? Do you plan to or currently transfer very large files, for example video weighing multiple gigabytes, on a regular basis? If so, would you consider stepping up to 10gbit in the foreseeable future?
WiFi6 devices are still pretty new, when do you think you would have WiFi7 devices and how will you utilize them?
WiFi6 devices are still pretty new, when do you think you would have WiFi7 devices and how will you utilize them?
Posted on 1/31/23 at 5:00 pm to Will Cover
CAT5e can support 10Gbps up to 100m. Though depending on the quality of the wire, interference etc; the distance might be significantly less.
Posted on 1/31/23 at 6:57 pm to gpburdell
quote:
CAT5e can support 10Gbps up to 100m. Though depending on the quality of the wire, interference etc; the distance might be significantly less.
This is 100% incorrect. Cat5E can support 100 mbps for 100 meters and “may” be able to carry 1 gig if conditions are perfect. It cannot do 10 gigs over that distance under any circumstances. Cat5E can do 1 gig in theory but even then it is questionable.
I own a cabling company.
Posted on 1/31/23 at 7:19 pm to Will Cover
Will, to answer your question no. Wi-Fi has become so fast and reliable there is zero reason to deal with the cost and mess of retrofitting category wiring in a house.
Posted on 1/31/23 at 8:19 pm to VABuckeye
quote:
Will, to answer your question no. Wi-Fi has become so fast and reliable there is zero reason to deal with the cost and mess of retrofitting category wiring in a house.
New build, worth it. Retrofit, only if you can do all the work yourself and you have no life
Posted on 1/31/23 at 8:24 pm to Korkstand
Really good home security cameras are powered, managed and transmit over POE. Will WiFi 7 send power out wireless to those devices? If not, Cat 5 wins.
Posted on 2/1/23 at 8:23 am to VABuckeye
quote:
Cat5E can support 100 mbps for 100 meters and “may” be able to carry 1 gig if conditions are perfect.
Are you saying Cat5E can only do up to 100mbps for 100m or it degrades to 100mbps at 100m?
Posted on 2/1/23 at 8:36 am to Hu_Flung_Pu
quote:There are no hard distance cutoffs for gigabit. The link speed that two devices negotiate will depend on the quality of the cable and its terminations, and your specific environment (including cable length and any possible interference). The only way to know for sure is to test each individual cable.
Are you saying Cat5E can only do up to 100mbps for 100m or it degrades to 100mbps at 100m?
Posted on 2/1/23 at 9:21 am to Korkstand
(no message)
This post was edited on 2/1/23 at 9:22 am
Posted on 2/1/23 at 9:37 am to VABuckeye
quote:
This is 100% incorrect.
I was wrong about the 100m, but CAT5e can support 10Gbe on shorter distances. Plenty of posts/videos of people doing this that I saw up to 40-50m.
Posted on 2/1/23 at 10:21 am to gpburdell
It is not recommended. CAT6 only does 10G up to around 55 meters so CAT5E is going to be noticeably shorter for that level of performance.
Bottom line is that it just doesn't make sense to use CAT5E when CAT6 is fairly inexpensive anyway and WILL give the desired performance. The other thing to add is that in a residential setting it's not prudent to think you can get 10 gig performance as you are also bandwidth limited by the other end of the connection. If it's an e commerce site there is no way in hell they're going to even consider pushing 10 gig bandwidth at a consumer. Right now 10 gig performance that isn't over fiber is mostly a pipe dream.
Bottom line is that it just doesn't make sense to use CAT5E when CAT6 is fairly inexpensive anyway and WILL give the desired performance. The other thing to add is that in a residential setting it's not prudent to think you can get 10 gig performance as you are also bandwidth limited by the other end of the connection. If it's an e commerce site there is no way in hell they're going to even consider pushing 10 gig bandwidth at a consumer. Right now 10 gig performance that isn't over fiber is mostly a pipe dream.
Posted on 2/1/23 at 11:04 am to VABuckeye
quote:
This is 100% incorrect. Cat5E can support 100 mbps for 100 meters and “may” be able to carry 1 gig if conditions are perfect. It cannot do 10 gigs over that distance under any circumstances. Cat5E can do 1 gig in theory but even then it is questionable.
This is 100% incorrect. 5e is rates for 1 gig at 100 meters.
Posted on 2/1/23 at 11:26 am to td1
You need to point out what is incorre3ct. I said it can do 1 gig at 100 meters under the right conditions. Cat5e 1 gig at 100 meters is not a given.
Posted on 2/1/23 at 12:29 pm to VABuckeye
quote:
You need to point out what is incorre3ct. I said it can do 1 gig at 100 meters under the right conditions. Cat5e 1 gig at 100 meters is not a given.
yes, certified Cat5e cables will do 1Gbps at 100m without any other qualification.
Even IEEE has certified standard Cat5e cables for 2.5Gbps at 100m
LINK /
This post was edited on 2/1/23 at 12:32 pm
Posted on 2/1/23 at 3:52 pm to VABuckeye
quote:
Bottom line is that it just doesn't make sense to use CAT5E when CAT6 is fairly inexpensive anyway and WILL give the desired performance.
I don't disagree with you. When I built my house a couple years ago, I paid extra to have them run CAT6 instead of CAT5e to every room.
My initial comment was directed to the OP who was questioning the value of replacing his CAT5 with CAT6/7 which I don't think it does.
Posted on 2/1/23 at 4:06 pm to gpburdell
quote:
My initial comment was directed to the OP who was questioning the value of replacing his CAT5 with CAT6/7 which I don't think it does.
And he needs to test that Cat5 cable. Many Cat5 cables meet the standards for Cat5e even though they were never certified. It may very well perform at a cat5e level making 2.5Gbps on his existing cabling possible.
Posted on 2/1/23 at 5:01 pm to notsince98
quote:
I don't disagree with you. When I built my house a couple years ago, I paid extra to have them run CAT6 instead of CAT5e to every room.
Same here. Just moved in a month ago and payed a little more for the cat6
Posted on 2/2/23 at 6:52 am to Will Cover
I'm a network guy and I will pose something which may be unpopular:
I have observed quite often a bit of obsession with internet speed and terminology and go-fast vernacular and latest/greatest kit which rarely translates in the real world.
The key thing to remember is that you cannot receive a signal faster than it is sent. Rarely does an internet source supply data at a rate greater than 1Gbps. Most are MUCH less.
Even then, unless you are on a daily basis downloading multiple DVDs, ISOs, movie collections, re-syncing your entire OneDrive or backing up terabytes offsite, it's extraordinarily unlikely that your life would change much if your internet is working at 10G vs 2.5Gbps vs 500Mbps. I internet for a living and 300Mbps fiber is all I ever need.
we have branch offices with 1G fiber and sub 4ms latency. it's great when we have to download an entire Adobe Suite install...but how often is that?
Regarding your in home wiring...are you achieving Gb speeds currently? if so I wouldn't touch a thing. I honestly believe you would have to produce test scenarios with hand picked equipment, switches, APs, endpoints and test data to show the value of say, 2.5 or 10Gbps vs 1G. say you are full 10G. it took 10 seconds to copy your 2TB Napster collection from your old server to your laptop instead of 10 minutes? How may Napster collections do you have? Was that worth the $1500 recabling and the 10G switch and wifi 7 AP cost?
Will CAT5 be good for a lifetime? probably not. But there's just not a ton of value to me other than bragging rights. I have worked with enough high performance kit in my life that I don't worry about that.
I have observed quite often a bit of obsession with internet speed and terminology and go-fast vernacular and latest/greatest kit which rarely translates in the real world.
The key thing to remember is that you cannot receive a signal faster than it is sent. Rarely does an internet source supply data at a rate greater than 1Gbps. Most are MUCH less.
Even then, unless you are on a daily basis downloading multiple DVDs, ISOs, movie collections, re-syncing your entire OneDrive or backing up terabytes offsite, it's extraordinarily unlikely that your life would change much if your internet is working at 10G vs 2.5Gbps vs 500Mbps. I internet for a living and 300Mbps fiber is all I ever need.
we have branch offices with 1G fiber and sub 4ms latency. it's great when we have to download an entire Adobe Suite install...but how often is that?
Regarding your in home wiring...are you achieving Gb speeds currently? if so I wouldn't touch a thing. I honestly believe you would have to produce test scenarios with hand picked equipment, switches, APs, endpoints and test data to show the value of say, 2.5 or 10Gbps vs 1G. say you are full 10G. it took 10 seconds to copy your 2TB Napster collection from your old server to your laptop instead of 10 minutes? How may Napster collections do you have? Was that worth the $1500 recabling and the 10G switch and wifi 7 AP cost?
Will CAT5 be good for a lifetime? probably not. But there's just not a ton of value to me other than bragging rights. I have worked with enough high performance kit in my life that I don't worry about that.
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