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I'm glancing over a Ubuiquiti airFiber radio starter guide and it says

"outdoor shielded 5e or above cabling should be used for all wired Ethernet connections. Category 6 is required for installations with long cable runs (up to 100m)."

Aside from being better at reducing crosstalk and having a speed cap at 10gbps what is the advantage for using cat6 for longer runs? I'm curious because it's mentioned as a 'requirement' not just a suggestion.

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  • You'll have to ask the vendor, I bet. CAT5e is rated for up to 100 meters. Oct 30, 2014 at 20:30
  • For that matter, CAT5 is rated for up to 100 meters.
    – joeqwerty
    Oct 30, 2014 at 20:50
  • The interesting thing is that the only cabling they themselves sell is only rated as cat 5e...
    – HBruijn
    Oct 30, 2014 at 21:35

3 Answers 3

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I could be taking a stab in the dark, but I believe that the device you are referring to is a POE device. Cat6 conductor gauge varies from 22-24 AWG and I typically purchase 23 AWG Cat6 in bulk for running in buildings. Check with the manufacturer but I'd assume that it has something to do with the PoE injector and power requirements. Power loss is less over cables with less resistance and larger gauge wire results in less resistance.

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    Yeah these are PoE devices. Good call it's probably in relation to AWG for safety reasons. +1
    – demiAdmin
    Oct 31, 2014 at 4:33
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CAT6 is simply a higher spec designed for high speed (1G+) networking. It has fewer losses and a much stricter set of certification requirements.

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They're merely covering as much liability as possible. If you see lower speeds than the sales brochure promises, your using the wrong cable shifts blame away from their technology.

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