5,217,392
Sounds like Roy Kelley has provided a detailed explanation!
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Roy Kelley
Gaithersburg, MD
7,836,442
Both CAT5e and CAT6 can handle speeds of up to 1000 Mbps, or a Gigabit per second. This is more than sufficient for the speed of by far the most internet connections. The chance is small that you currently have an internet connection with which you can achieve up to 500 Mbps speed.
The main difference between CAT5e and CAT6 cable lies within the bandwidth, the cable can support for data transfer. CAT6 cables are designed for operating frequencies up to 250 MHz, compared to 100 Mhz for CAT5e. This means that a CAT6 cable can process more data at the same time. Think of it as the difference between a 2- and a 4-lane highway. On both you can drive the same speed, but a 4-lane highway can handle much more traffic at the same time.
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Wayne Martin
Chicago, IL
6,393,609
1,503,028
Trust Tom's Hardware or Wired. Don't know this other company. They're basically the same cable, both will give gigabit speeds over short distances.