CAT6a vs CAT6 RJ45 plugs

Puntoboy

I can't seem to find many, if any, specific CAT6a RJ45 plugs. It seems the cable spec is the important piece and the plugs only matter when using shielded cable and don't use CAT5e plug with CAT6/a cable.

Would anyone like to counter this and suggest somewhere I can get CAT6a plugs? I have loads of CAT6 rated ones.

mushii

Cat 6a are FTP and are therefore shielded

Cat 6a RJ45 are available here

CCS Cat6a FTP RJ45 Plug - For Patch Cable | Cat6a Accessories
These are 2 piece shielded plugs. Remember you will need Cat 6a patch panels, keystones, patch cables etc.  Remember you only connect a drain wire at one end otherwise you can create ground loops and totally degrade your cable connectivity.

Puntoboy

that’s interesting. I’m pretty sure there’s no shielding in my CAT6a cable.

mushii

Cat 6 is generally UTP - the U being unshielded, Cat 6a is FTP the F stands for Foil - shield. It is how the increased the data transmission bandwidth from 250 MHz  to 500 MHz

Puntoboy

Well it’s 100% CAT6a labelled cable. It’s from Excel. I thought the extra bandwidth was more to do with the additional twists in the pairs.

I’ve worked with FTP cable before but I wasn’t aware it was a requirement for CAT6a.

Puntoboy

Ok ignore me. The cable isn’t CAT6a. It’s CAT6. Must have ordered the wrong stuff. I’m sure I checked but clearly I didn’t.

CAT6 it is then.

stevelup

A lucky escape because you didn't want shielded cable in the first place! It's a common mistake.

Puntoboy

I did want 6a though. Not for everywhere but I will be putting some in As I need 10G over more than 30m.

mushii

Out of curiosity how are you going to check you are getting 10Gbps? Most people have struggled to get more than 7Gbps on domestic Cat 6a installs and 90% of those were self install with no certification. Getting 10Gbps  is no mean feat. I know I have struggled to get bandwidth on HDBaseT installs which is a full 1 Gbps saturation, down to poor cable installs or crosstalk. I am not sure, even after many years of cable dragging how comfortable I would be with 10 Gbps over Cat6a without the necessary tools.

Puntoboy

Well I need more that 4GBps as I’m currently saturating that link between my two NASs using LACP. I would have gone for Fibre (still may do) but the cost for the install put me off and I like the flexibility of Ethernet cable. As it’s a specific run of cable I shouldn’t have too much trouble with interference (except with itself) as there’s nothing else it will be running near.