How can I tell which network cable is the best?

Question

I am upgrading to gigabit ethernet on my home network, which requires Cat5e or Cat6 cables to get the highest speeds.

I have a ton of cables. Some are marked with category in ink on the side, some are not. Some are old, some are not. Some are short, and some are not. On a 10Mbit network, I never cared which is which.

Is there any way to know which of my cables are the "best", since cable quality suddenly makes a difference. I also assume that there is some quality variance within a category (I.E. one Cat5e cable may be better than another).

Answer 1

I currently am getting an OC12 connection at my buisness(which is like $2300/m). All the computers here(about 5) are connected through fiber optics(the connection itself is ran by fiber optics too).

Answer 2

Netskay is pretty much right on.. Distance is a major factor in network cable speed go for the 1500 ft rule nothing longer. But the other thing which he seems to blow off is crosstalk. The best cable to use for Gb ethernet is a flat (like a pancake) Cat6 cable. Try some of the cable from Mohawk that stuff is PURE SUGAR! The other thing is don't run the cable near microwaves, cordless phone base stations, and fluorescent lighting.. All these things will cause noise ingress and slow down your link.. although for just about every average Joe you'll never notice the drop in speed from Cat5e or Cat6.

Answer 3

yea

Answer 4

as far as i know, the cables do not make the differences, the distance does, the longer the cable them ore singal loss ull get, kinda like wifi, but its a very small percentage to consider, its applicable only to super long distances, other than that, the only thing that makes a difference is ur NIC, cables should not matter, ethernet cables are standard, they differ by one cable wire inside the wrap if u have power over ethernet