The Transition from Cat 6 to Cat 8 Cable - Should I upgrade?

At a basic level, the frequency of a cable tells you how much data can move across the wires in a second. CAT 6 cables can support data transfer rates of up to 10 gigabits per second for a distance of up to 55 metres. This is currently the most common Ethernet cabling in use. CAT 6A, a version of CAT 6, but on steroids, provides 10 times the network speed and twice the bandwidth at up to 100 meters.

Many people do not realise that CAT 7 isn’t the successor to CAT 6. CAT 7 cable is a registered design, but it is not a cabling standard of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Even high-quality CAT 7 cables, capable of transfer rates of up to 40Gbps over 50 meters and 100Gbps over 15 meters, aren’t in common usage. Because of this, some large organizations have avoided using CAT 7 cables.

Cat 8 does not have the disadvantages of Cat 7. Officially recognized by the IEEE with components that are standardized across manufacturers, Cat 8 is compatible with all previous versions of cables and is, consequently, the real successor to CAT 6.

Does this mean that you should be upgrading? That depends on your cable requirements.

The key distinction for many people is that CAT 8 cabling has faster throughput over short distances — 40Gbps for distances up to 30 meters and the standard CAT 6 rate of 10Gbps at up to 100 meters. This evolution from CAT 6 also has a bandwidth of 2000 megahertz, which is twice that of CAT 7. For these reasons, CAT 8 cables are becoming increasingly popular.

For most home applications, however, Cat6a is more than sufficient. Most home network equipment cannot operate at Cat 8 speed, so a Cat 8 cable is overkill. Because it's much faster than most people need, Cat8 cables are best suited to be used in data centre environments.

Cat8 Ethernet is used in server rooms for switch- to- switch communications. They’re especially useful if you want to upgrade networks without having to complete a full overhaul. This is because the RJ45 connectors are standardized.

Cat8 cables also support PoE technology, which means they’re able to save space in server rooms by making installation surprisingly simple.

For most home setups, Cat6a is definitely more than sufficient, even for gaming applications. Category 8 would be overkill for most home applications.

If you have further questions about Cat 8 applications, please contact our Technical Sales Team. They’ll be glad to help.