Wired Network Cable Selection Method

Wired Network Cable Selection Method
When choosing a wired network cable, the main considerations are the usage scenario, bandwidth requirements, and wiring environment. The key point is "it's enough if it's sufficient, and there's no need to blindly pursue higher standards".

1. Select by Bandwidth / Speed Category Table
Category Bandwidth Supported Rate Typical Scenarios
Cat5e 100 MHz 1 Gbps Ordinary household, 100 Mbps broadband
Cat6 250 MHz 1 Gbps / 10 Gbps (short distance) Gigabit broadband, home NAS, gaming
Cat6A 500 MHz 10 Gbps 10 Gbps local area network, data center
Cat7 600 MHz 10 Gbps High interference environment, engineering wiring
Cat8 2000 MHz 40 Gbps (30 meters) Server, switch short-distance interconnection
Home recommendation: Start with Cat6 for gigabit broadband, and you won't need to replace it in the next few years; Cat5e is also sufficient for 100 Mbps broadband, but the price difference is small. It is recommended to directly upgrade to Cat6.
II. Look at the shielding type (STP/UTP)
UTP (unshielded): Ordinary environments such as home and office, high性价比， most commonly used.
FTP/STP (shielded)： Strong electrical interference environments (such as near power lines， elevators， industrial equipment)， both ends of the equipment must be grounded for it to be effective； otherwise， the shielding layer will become an antenna.
For home use， UTP is usually sufficient， and there is no need to spend more money on shielded cables.
III. Look at the wire core material and specification
Material： Prefer OFC (oxygen-free copper)， which has low resistance， stable transmission， and long lifespan. Be wary of "copper-clad aluminum" and "copper-clad iron"， which are cheap but have large signal attenuation and are prone to oxidation.
Wire gauge (AWG)： The smaller the number， the thicker the wire. Cat6 is usually 23 AWG， and Cat5e is usually 24 AWG. The thicker the wire， the more stable the long-distance transmission.
Soft or hard wire：
For wiring pre-installation， choose hard wire (single strand)， which is convenient for installation and has good contact.
For desktop patch cords， choose soft wire (multi-strand)， which is resistant to bending.
IV. Other points to note
Length： Do not exceed 100 meters per segment. If it does， add a switch / repeater.
Crystals： Good wires require good connectors. For Cat6， it is recommended to use split / two-piece crystal connectors to ensure that the wire pair spacing is not damaged.

Pre-installation suggestion： For decoration pre-installation， directly use Cat6 or Cat6A. The cost of rewiring is much higher than the price difference of the wire materials.