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Builder Question:

Recently, a customer whose home we are completing requested the home low voltage wiring be CAT 6.  The CAT 6 wire was installed; however, the supplier installed CAT 5 plugs and terminations. One person on the installation team told the homeowner that the CAT 6 terminations would have to be special order; and others in the supplier's company said that there is no difference in the CAT 5 & CAT 6 terminations and plugs. 

After several weeks of a stand-off, the supplier finally ordered CAT 6 equipment.  Meanwhile, another company representative who is a commercial supplier told me that there is an engineering difference, but unless the wiring is near the 300 ft limit, there is no performance difference between the CAT 5 and CAT 6 terminations.

Can you clarify this situation so I can assure our customer that his installation is the best currently available?

Answer:  Provided by Utz Baldwin, President, Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA)

The system will only perform at the speed of the weakest link.  Having CAT5 plugs / terminations, will limit the performance of the system to CAT5 standards.

The general difference between CAT5 and CAT6 is in the transmission performance, and extension of the available bandwidth from 100 MHz for category 5e to 200 MHz for category 6. This includes better insertion loss, near end crosstalk (NEXT), return loss, and equal level far end crosstalk (ELFEXT). These improvements provide a higher signal-to-noise ratio, allowing higher reliability for current applications and higher data rates for future applications.

From a future proofing perspective, it is always better to install the best cabling available.  The rationale is that cabling  will support at least four to five generations of equipment during that time. If future equipment running at much higher data rates requires better cabling, it will be very expensive to pull out category 5e cabling at a later time to install category 6 cabling.

Utz Baldwin

President, Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA), 2007-2008; CEDIA Certified Instructor (CCI) (2005); CEDIA Registered Outreach Instructor (ROI) (2006); CEDIA Industry Outreach Council Chair (2006-2007); CEDIA Board Member 2003-Current; (IRM)
Area of Expertise:  Home Technology

President of AD systems in Houston Texas, Utz's primary focus is on industry development and raising awareness of CEDIA, the industry, and elevating the standards of installation practices. He is highly visible within the cross-industry education arena and has presented to NAHB, ASID, AIBD, AIA, at events such as CEDIA EXPO, CEDIA Electronic Lifestyles Forum®, and EHX, and he is a member of the ASID Distinguished Speakers program. His career spans 19 years in the consumer electronics industry with the majority of time spent in the custom installation field.

 “My experience in this industry began in 1984 like many CEDIA Members in the retail sector of the consumer electronics industry, working for the Federated Group in Los Angeles. As my interest in consumer technologies grew I migrated to high-end A/V sales and installation at Jonas Miller Sound in Santa Monica. I was fortunate to have learned from two icons in our industry; Jonas Miller and Ken Kreisel of M&K Sound.” After managing the custom installation division for several years Utz founded Acoustic Design Inc.

Migrating from a one-man sales, installation, management, financial shop to a departmentalized corporate organization is paying off. “I have found the intricacies of business itself, to be just as exciting as the systems we install. We have had many successes over the years, but most of them can be attributed to failing first. The important thing is that decisions are made and executed. The reward is spending more time on the things you are passionate about.”

 

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