Buy ethernet cables at trade prices from our network cable range, massive stocks with next day delivery.
Our range includes economy and full copper in wire gauges 24AWG and 26AWG, unshielded UTP and shielded FTP. The range also includes LSZH low smoke zero halogen and snagless patch leads with boots that cover the locking tab.
CAT5e vs CAT6
An ethernet cable is graded by the speed of data it can transfer, CAT5e and CAT6 both support Gigabit ethernet (1000mbs) as well as lower speeds, CAT6 has a tighter twist in the wire pairs which allows 10 Gigabit networking over distances up to 50m and 2 way communication on each pair of wires, the tighter twist also provides better noise immunity which in turn leads to lower delay and skew.
CAT6A has a further tightening of the wire twist and adds a shield, this allows 10 Gigabit networking up to circa 100m.
For typical home use such as connecting a router to a smart TV, a CAT 5e ethernet cable is more than adequate as the limiting factor will be your broadband speed, for HDMI over ethernet we recommend using CAT 6 full copper.
