Complete Comparison Table of CAT5, CAT5e, CAT6, CAT6a, CAT7 and CAT8 Copper Cable

The following table helps you to understand more clearly about the categories of Ethernet cable.

Items	Category 5 / cat5	Category 5e / cat5e	Category 6 / cat6	Category 6a / cat6a	Category 7 / cat7	Category 8 / cat8
Applicable for Phone	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	NO
Applicable for Office Network	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	NO
Applcable for Home Network	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	NO
Applicable for Data Center	NO	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES
Networks Supported	100BASE-T	1000BASE-T	1000BASE-TX	10GBASE	10GBASE	25GBASE / 40GBASE
Bandwidth	100 MHZ	100 MHZ	250 MHZ	500 MHZ	600MHZ	2000MHZ
Transmission Speed	10 to 100 Mbps	10 to 100 Mbps	1 Gbps	1 Gbps	10 Gbps	25Gbps / 40Gbps
Shielding	unshielded	unshielded	unshielded or shielded	unshielded or shielded	Shielded	Shilded
Transmission Distance	up to 100 meter	up to 100 meter	37-55 meters or less	up to 100 meters	up to 100 meters	—
Impedance	100 ohms = 15%	100 ohms = 15%	100 ohms = 15%	—-	100 ohms = 15%	—
NEXT (Min. @ 100 MHZ)	32.3 dB	35.3 dB	44.3 dB	27.9 dB	62.1 dB	—
Attenuation (Min. @100 MHZ)	22 dB	22 dB	19.8 dB	—-	20.8 dB	—
EL-FEXT (Min. @ 100 MHZ)	NA	23.8 dB	27.8 dB	9.3 dB	NA	—
PS-ELFEXT (Min. @ 100 MHZ)	NA	20.8 dB	24.8 dB	—-	NA	—
PS-NEXT (Min. @ 100 MHZ)	NA	32.3 dB	42.3 dB	—-	59.1 dB	—
PS-ANEXT (Min. @ 500 MHz)	—-	—-	—-	49.5 dB	—-
PS-AELFEXT (Min. @ 500 MHz)	16 dB	20.1 dB	20.1 dB	23.0 dB	14.1 dB	—
Return Loss (Min. @ 100 MHz)	16 dB	20.1 dB	20.1 dB	8.0 dB	14.1 dB	—
Delay Skew (Max. per 100m)	NA	45 ns	45 ns	—-	20 ns	5ns
Cost	Less	Less	Expense compared to previous	Expense compared to previous	High	High

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