Are you recabling an office, or have you received a quote from an installer? Sooner or later you will face this question: CAT6 or CAT6A? The difference in price is clear. The difference in what you get for it often is not.
The short answer
For a new office or a major refurbishment, CAT6A is usually the best choice. Not because you need that speed today, but because cabling often stays in place for twenty years or more. What you put in the walls and ceilings now must also work with the equipment of ten years from now.
For a small extension in a building that already has CAT6, CAT6 can be fine. That keeps the network consistent and easy to manage.
What is the difference?
Both cables look almost the same. The difference is in what they can handle:
- CAT6 reaches 1 Gbit/s over the full length of 100 metres. 10 Gbit/s only works over shorter distances.
- CAT6A reaches 10 Gbit/s over the full 100 metres. The cable is also better protected against interference from cables running next to it.
CAT6A is thicker and less flexible. As a result, installation takes a little more time, and it needs more space in cable trays and patch cabinets.
Why 10 Gbit/s matters, even if nobody works that fast
A laptop on a desk rarely needs more than 1 Gbit/s. So that is not where the difference lies. It lies in the devices in the ceiling.
Modern access points with WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 serve dozens of users at the same time. Together, those users can demand more than 1 Gbit/s. That is why many new access points have a network port that is faster than 1 Gbit/s. If the cable cannot handle that, the cable slows down the WiFi. No matter how good the access point is.
Power over the cable
Access points, cameras and sensors often get their power through the network cable. This is called PoE. New devices need more power than old ones. More power means more heat in the cable, especially when many cables run in a bundle.
CAT6A copes better with that heat. That is a second reason why installers often recommend it for new builds.
What about CAT7 or CAT8?
You may hear those mentioned too. CAT8 is designed for short distances in data centres, not for the floors of an office. CAT7 is rarely used in offices in practice. For cabling to workstations and access points, CAT6A is the common standard.
The cable is only part of the story
A good cable that is badly installed performs badly. So also pay attention to:
- Testing. Have every connection tested after installation and ask for the test report. Then you know for sure that the cable delivers what it promises.
- Everything in the same category. A CAT6A cable with CAT6 wall outlets or patch panels performs like CAT6.
- Documentation. A floor plan with numbered connections saves a lot of searching later.
- Enough space. A patch cabinet that is already full becomes a problem at the first extension.
Together this is called structured cabling: a fixed, documented set-up instead of loose cables.
What does this mean for the IT-Label?
Cabling is one of the components we look at during an IT-Label audit. IT2 comes with CAT6 cabling. The highest levels, IT1 and IT1+, assume CAT6A or higher.
Is there still CAT5e in your building? Then that is often the first place where there is something to gain.
Not sure what is in your building?
That is completely normal. The cables are in walls and ceilings, and the drawings are not always up to date. During a pre-inspection we look at what is there and what it can handle. Want a quick impression first? Take the free self-scan.