Mixing Cat5e and Cat6 in the same Patch Panel?

[kcrossley]

My house has a mixture of builder-installed Cat5e-568A and owner-installed Cat6-568B in-wall Ethernet cables. I'm getting ready to install (2) TRENDnet 12-port patch panels. Is it okay to mix the two cable types in the same patch panel, as long as they are wired using the same layout as the jacks the patch panel will feed?

TRENDnet 12-Port Cat6 Unshielded Patch Panel,TC-P12C6V, Wall Mount,Included 89D Bracket,Vertical or Horizontal Installation, Compatible w/ Cat5e & Cat6 RJ45 Cabling, 110 IDC Type Terminal Blocks Black

TRENDnet's 12-Port Cat6 Unshielded Wall Mount Patch Panel with Included 89D Bracket, model TC-P12C6V, provides a 250MHz connection to 12 x Gigabit RJ-45 Ethernet ports. This 10-inch, Cat6 wall mount patch panel is well suited for both home or SMB applications. Control cable clutter with included ...

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Thanks!

 

[Basic75]

Not the biggest expert, but as long as you don't go faster than 1Gbit Ethernet I wouldn't expect any problems.

 

[kcrossley]

So, in a patch panel, each jack is completely isolated from the others, correct?

 

[kcrossley]

Not the biggest expert, but as long as you don't go faster than 1Gbit Ethernet I wouldn't expect any problems.

This brings up an interesting question. Currently, I only have Verizon FIOS 1GB service. Once Verizon offers multi-gigabit service, shouldn't I be able to attain multi-gigabit speeds provided that the Ethernet jacks, cables, and switch are all multi-gigabit capable?

 

[Bigwaff]

Once Verizon offers multi-gigabit service, shouldn't I be able to attain multi-gigabit speeds provided that the Ethernet jacks, cables, and switch are all multi-gigabit capable?

With this patch panel, yes. But it will also depend on your router. Most consumer grade routers aren’t multi-gigabit yet.

 

[kcrossley]

With this patch panel, yes. But it will also depend on your router. Most consumer grade routers aren’t multi-gigabit yet.

I just purchased two of these as well, so I can move data faster to my Synology NAS, which will be on one of the Cat6 lines, as will my iMac Pro: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XWKF55C

 

[Bigwaff]

Your LAN will be multi-gigabit but unless your router supports multi-gigabit, a multi-gigabit ISP connection will be capped at the bandwidth of your router.

 

[chrfr]

I just purchased two of these as well, so I can move data faster to my Synology NAS, which will be on one of the Cat6 lines, as will my iMac Pro: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XWKF55C

Your iMac Pro only supports 1GbE so a 2.5GbE switch won't offer much advantage there unless you have a couple of devices writing to the Synology simultaneously (and it'd also require that the Synology itself supports 2.5GbE.)

 

[chrfr]

So, in a patch panel, each jack is completely isolated from the others, correct?

Yes, a patch panel does not connect ports together unless it's been wired up completely wrong.

 

[paardenkapper]

Cat 5e and 6 do not differ all that much. Both will offer gigabit ethernet support.

Just as far as my experience goes you should decide between using T568A and B.
The difference is the connection of the orange/white-orange and green/white-green pair.

You can mix it on your patch panel but I'd stick to one way. Just make sure you're using the same scheme on the patchpanel AND the ethernet port on the other end. Using A on one end and B on the other will result in failing connections.

 

[kcrossley]

Your iMac Pro only supports 1GbE so a 2.5GbE switch won't offer much advantage there unless you have a couple of devices writing to the Synology simultaneously (and it'd also require that the Synology itself supports 2.5GbE.)

According to Apple, my iMac Pro supports up to 10GbE: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP771?locale=en_US

 

[kcrossley]

Cat 5e and 6 do not differ all that much. Both will offer gigabit ethernet support.

Just as far as my experience goes you should decide between using T568A and B.
The difference is the connection of the orange/white-orange and green/white-green pair.

You can mix it on your patch panel but I'd stick to one way. Just make sure you're using the same scheme on the patchpanel AND the ethernet port on the other end. Using A on one end and B on the other will result in failing connections.

Most of my house is wired with T568A. Not sure if this has more to do with when it was wired (2007) or the fact that half of the Cat5e cables and RJ45 jacks were used for voice.

Any issies with wiring my new Cat6 cables using T568A? Thanks!

 

[Slartibart]

T568A (and B)/ certified Cat6-ables use slightly thicker copper lines and better shielding compared to Cat5 (Cat6 is fully Cat5/3 compatible). Depending on various e.g. external factors you might not actually see a difference when using either of these cables. However, with slower speeds and less bandwidth – not to mention more crosstalk interference – you would probably prefer Cat6 when connecting end points.

 

[dictoresno]

Having a mixture of T568A and B won’t matter as long as both terminations on both ends are terminated the same way. You can’t have one end A and the other B. As long as each cable is A/A and B/B, the switch won’t care.

A and B are mostly a preference. B is considered the normal standard, and I believe A is still required for use in Dept of Defense wiring jobs. But most of the time, you will find B wiring in most applications. You can always reterminate all of your A connections and make them B. And it’s true, try not to mix and match. Pick one standard and stick to it. I personally wire for B in my house.

 

[vanc]

Not the biggest expert, but as long as you don't go faster than 1Gbit Ethernet I wouldn't expect any problems.

Cat5e is indeed not rated for 10G. But if the cable quality is good, it would work.

At the moment, I'm using regular cat5e cables for my 10G switch and it's super reliable. The catch is the length. The longer it gets, the worse of the interference. So keep it short (less than 30 meters) and it's all good. Depending on the quality of your cable, your milage may vary.