Cat6 Cable Overview:

Short for Category 6, Cat6 cable is network cabling that consists of four twisted pairs of copper wire terminated by RJ45 connectors. Cat 6 cabling supports frequencies up to 550 MHz and speeds up to 1000 Mbps. It can be used for High Speed LAN's, token ring, 1000Base-T, 100Base-T, and 10Base-T networking.

Cat6 Cable is known as a twisted pair cable and comes in either solid or stranded types. Solid CAT6 cable supports long cable runs and is designed for fixed cabling situations like homes, offices, and buildings. Stranded CAT 6 cable is more pliable and better suited for shorter-distances. Stranded CAT6 cable is commonly used for patch cables or crossover cables.

Cat6 Cable is designed for the requirements of fast broadband applications and is the most popular cabling for new installs used today.

Cat6 is based on the EIA/TIA 568 Commercial Building Telecommunications Wiring Standard developed by the Electronics Industries Association as requested by the Computer Communications Industry Association in 1985.

Cat6 Plenum A type of inside cable intended for use in plenums. While plenums are convenient places to run cables, they also are conducive to the spreading of fires within buildings, as they are primarily intended to support air flow. Therefore, the National Electrical Code (NEC) specifies that the insulation on plenum cables must be fire retardant, low-smoke and low-toxicity.

Cat6 Outdoor Cable Some cables are "UV rated" meaning they can be exposed to outdoor UV radiation without significant destruction. The materials used for the mantle are usually PVC. Any cable which contains air spaces can breathe in moisture, especially if the cable runs between indoor and outdoor spaces. Warm moist air can cause condensation inside the colder parts of the cable outdoors. It may be necessary to take precautions such as sealing the ends of the cables. Some cables are suitable for "direct burial", but this usually requires that the cable is gel filled in order to hinder moisture migration into the cable.

Cat6 Shielded Cables (FTP/STP) are useful for environments where proximity to power cables, RF equipment, or high power equipment may introduce crosstalk, and can also be used where interference with radio receivers or where eavesdropping likelihood should be minimised.

Cat 6a Cable is defined at frequencies up to 500 MHz—twice that of Cat 6.
Cat6a can currently support 10 Gbit/s applications (especially 10GBaseT) up to a maximum distance of 100 meters (330 ft). Cat 7 and Cat7a support 10 Gbit/s even with high margins.
Improved specifications, particularly in the area of Alien Cross-talk (AXT) as compared to Cat6 UTP which exhibited high alien noise in high frequencies.

How to Make a Category 6 Patch Cable

We Have received many requests from our customers for information on how to make a Category 6 cable. So below we will discuss the basic instructions for creating your own CAT6 patch cables. We hope you find the instructions informative

• Strip the cables Jacket back one full inch
• Untwist the wires back to within 1/8" of the jacket
• Arrange the wires in the order in which you want to crimp them. You can choose from either the 568-A or 568-B wiring methods, however the 568-A is the most commonly used.
• Grasp the wires firmly, between your thumb and forefinger, flatten them, and even wiggle them a bit, to take out the curliness, (concentrate your efforts on the bottom 1/2") the wires must lay flat and together, aligned as close as possible.
• While holding the wires firmly, cut off the the wires 1/2" from the cables jacket (Cut the wires with some sharp wire strippers or even high quality scissors, avoid wire cutters that flatten the ends of the wires insulating material, this makes stuffing the wires very difficult.)
• Stuff the wires into the connector, making sure the wires stay lined up. Push moderately hard to assure that all of the wires have reached the end of the connector. Be sure that the cable jacket goes into the back of the connector by about 3/16".
• Place the connector into a crimp tool, and squeeze hard so that the handle reaches it's full swing.
• Repeat the process on the other end. For a straight through cable, use the same wiring.
• Use a cable tester to test for proper continuity

How to wire a CAT6 (EIA 568-B*) Cable.

connector #1	connector #2
1 WHT/ORG 2 ORG 3 WHT/GRN 4 BLU 5 WHT/BLU 6 GRN 7 WHT/BRN 8 BRN	1 WHT/ORG 2 ORG 3 WHT/GRN 4 BLU 5 WHT/BLU 6 GRN 7 WHT/BRN 8 BRN

How to wire a CAT6 (EIA 568-A*) Cable.

connector #1	connector #2
1 WHT/GRN 2 GRN 3 WHT/ORG 4 BLU 5 WHT/BLU 6 ORG 7 WHT/BRN 8 BRN	1 WHT/GRN 2 GRN 3 WHT/ORG 4 BLU 5 WHT/BLU 6 ORG 7 WHT/BRN 8 BRN

The only real difference between 568A and 568B is that the White/Orange-Orange/White and White/Green-Green/White pairs are swapped.

How to wire a "Crossover" Cable. (EIA 568-B*)

USOC crossover cables are like this: