Update to - "is it time to upgrade your equipment"

 

 Just posting a small update to help explain the many different types of Category cables that are out there.

Posted below is a simple description that hopefully will help some out when picking what cable to run in your house, and the uses for them.

 

With data speeds going up all the time, and with fiber to the home becoming more common, some people should take a look at adding some higher end cabling to their homes.  As of now, Cat6a & Cat7 are being recommended for home wiring if you plan to have a lot of "smart" devices. Even though a lot of smart devices run on wifi, it is recommended to have these devices on their own LAN network and a separate router. 

Gamers, who have fiber to the home, and expensive routers will also benefit from some of the newer cables helping with latency. 

People adding security cameras also should take a look at having at least Cat6a for wired cameras in order to provide the best upload/download speeds.  Security cameras rely way more on the upload speed for streaming to smart devices like your phone.

Cat 8 Ethernet cable is ideal for switch to switch communications in data centers and server rooms, where 25GBase‑T and 40GBase‑T networks are common. Which I don't think the average home user will have in their basement. Although Cat8 will work with your existing routers and are backwards compatible, they are a heavier gauge and a little harder to terminate.

For the majority of home users, I recommend using Cat6 or Cat6a for all your internet needs. 

In my next article I will preview some routers, and help you select the best ones for your everyday needs.  Until then, Stay safe.

Vince.