Maybe a daft question but can you mix cat 5 & cat 6 cables in the same set-up?
I have a long Cat 5 between router and DS via wall ports. Goes along outside wall and is quite permanent so on practical grounds I have no desire to replace any time soon.
However I have various Cat 5 patch leads between router, switch, NAS, DS, wall ports etc and wonder if there is any benefit in changing these to Cat 6, bearing in mind how cheap and easy this would be to do? Any technical reasons not to mix 5&6? and is there any point in doing this in the first place despite the modest cost?
Keep reading in Critic how much better Cat 6 is and it is nagging me.
Any help appreciated.
Posted on: 30 September 2012 by IanG
Am no expert but I would imagine that the whole circuit will only be as good as the weakest element. Therefore, there would be no benefit using Cat 6 for the short inside runs if you have a long run of Cat 5 around the house. If you have no dropout problems etc as it stands then I would see no advantajust up upgrading inside.
Posted on: 30 September 2012 by garyi
Well, cat5e is good for 100m, so yea short as is practical but don't loose sleep over it because anything under 80m is not going to make a jot of difference.
Posted on: 30 September 2012 by Simon-in-Suffolk
For our use in our homes there will be no issue mixing. In fact patch leads are better using Cat5e and Cat 6 for infrastructure, as Cat6 wire is harder to bend and heavier. But really there is no benefit in using Cat6 over Cat5e for up to 1Gbps in a home environment (relatively low electrical noise) up to 100 metres.
Simon
