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From what I can understand, Cat 6e does not actually exist but a number of manufacturers are selling some cable labeled as Cat 6e. Some sources say that Cat 6e is just Cat 6a but the manufacturers just added a few extra things to "improve" on it (like shielding I think?). And some say that it's actually some knock off Cat 5e.

I asked for Cat 6a but I got Cat 6e instead. How can I tell if this cable is legit Cat 6 (10 Gbps)?

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To hell with it, use DAC/TwinAx cables or fiber. – SpacemanSpiff Aug 21 '12 at 4:22
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Or more seriously... just like the argument of Cat5e vs Cat6 for 1Gb iSCSI, are you actually experiencing an issue or just building it to some kind of specification? – SpacemanSpiff Aug 21 '12 at 4:22
@SpacemanSpiff I'm building a new house and want some Cat 6a installed if the house is going to to last for decades. – Jack Aug 21 '12 at 4:39
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viva la fiber! :D – SpacemanSpiff Aug 21 '12 at 4:44
Because you're asking about your new house this is off topic. However, I would use current spec and disregard the future. If/when it becomes desirable to replace the cable with something newer or different just use your old cables to pull the new ones in. – John Gardeniers Aug 21 '12 at 14:12
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3 Answers

up vote 11 down vote

As you deduced, 6e is a marketing term that was used before the formal adoption of 6a. The "things" in question that have been modified generally have to do with the number of twists per inch and the existence/type of shielding on the cable.

The question isn't really whether 6 vs 6e vs 6a will -support- 10GBaseT, but rather at what distance. Cat6 is officially rated to go to 55M (including patches) while 6a is good for the full 110. This isn't to say, of course, that a 75M run of cat6 won't work - just that it's outside of spec.

Here's the thing, though - if the 6 / 6e / 6a wasn't correctly terminated on compliant patch panels/connectors/jacks then none of this actually matters all that much. 6e should exceed 6 and may be equal to 6a, but the lack of an official spec at the time basically means that you need to base your design on the results of certification with a cable tester capable of measuring to these kinds of speeds. If you can hit 500MHz at the right crosstalk and such (as per 6a) then you're good. If not, then your cable vendor owes you a re-run.

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Cat 6a cable is supposed to provide a bandwidth of 500MHz. Some cable analyzers will be able to report on that.

Cat 5e can support full duplex gigabit operations, so in the vast majority of applications even cat 6 is unnecessary at present, but I guess requirements are requirements...

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You could use a decent cable tester this should be able to tell you speed. Thus allowing you work out the type of cable that you have.

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Not necessarily the case. The rating of the cable is the -minimum- spec. The measured NEXT (for example) of a cat6 cable might exceed that of a cat6a because of particular environmental conditions or manufacturing differences but it doesn't mean that the cable itself is actually 6a. The ratings on the jacket are confirmed by a cable tester, not the other way around. – rnxrx Aug 29 '12 at 5:19

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