What Is Cat 6 Wire?

According to the ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1, the cat 6 wire is a cable standard for a gigabit Ethernet. Gigabit ethernet is a term that describes various technologies for transmitting the ethernet frames in a rate of gigabit per second. This standard is 1000 mbps.

EIA/TIA is short for Electronic Industries Association and Telecommunications Industry Association. They are the ones who define the cable standard and cat 6 wire is called that due to the fact that it is the 6th generation of twisted Ethernet cabling.

The ANSI/TIA/EI-568-B.2-1 is the name for the set of three telecommunications standards set up by the Telecommunications Industry Association. These standards address the commercial building cabling for telecom products and services.

The cat 6 wire is made up of four twisted copper wires that usually are 23 gauge copper wire but can be 22-24 gauge also. The wire can be this gauge just as long as it meets the specified testing standards.

The cat 6 wire provides performance up to 250 MHz and soon to be used instead is the cat 6a wire which provides performance up to 500 MHz which is twice that of the cat 6 wire.

The four pairs of wire that the cat 6 wire utilizes, are color codes. Pair one is white and blue. Pair two is white and orange. Pair three is white and green. Pair four is white and brown.

The pairs of the cat 6 wire are color coded for the reason of being able to follow connection diagrams in wiring schemes.

As with all cabling run requirements, the cat 6 wire has a cable run that are limited to a maximum recommended run rate of 100m which is 328 feet.

Twisted pair cabling comes in two different varieties. One is solid and the other is stranded. The solid cat 6 wire is mainly used in fixed wiring configuration such as ones that you would see in office buildings.

The stranded cat 6 wire is a lot more pliable and it works better for shorter distance and movable cabling which is called "patch" cables.

Todays applications of wiring are mainly done in cat 5 and cat 5e cable wiring due to the fact that cat 6 wire is far more expensive then the previous defined wiring. But it is suggested that if you are wiring a home or office or commercial building that you plan on having for long term, you should spend the extra money to use the cat 6 wire.