Q: What’s the difference between CAT5, CAT6, CAT6E, and CAT7?

A:

Cat5

Cat5 supports speeds up to 100Mb/s (100 MHz) Cat5e Cat5e supports speeds up to a Gigabit Ethernet (1,000Mb/s) (100 MHz)

Cat6

Cat6 supports speeds up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet and can be achieved with distance of 37-55 meters or less depending on the grade of the cable and quality of installation. On 100 meters it provide up to a Gigabit (1,000Mb/s) (250 MHz)

Cat6A

Cat6A supports speeds up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet with distance up to 100 meters (10,000 Mb/s)(500 MHz)

Cat7 & Cat7A

Cat7 & Cat7A support speeds up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet with distance up to 100 meters (10,000 Mb/s)(1000 Mhz)

Q: Is there a difference between CMP, CMR, CM / CMG, CMX cables?

A: Absolutely, CMP cables are plenum cables; these cables are used if networking must be done in air ducts. They can be used for commercial or residential spaces. They will not combust and cannot actually cause fires.

CMR cables are riser cables. These are used for regular networking from room to room, as long as the cable does not need to pass through an air duct.

CM/CMG are the most commonly used commercial grade communication cable.

CMX is a residential grade cable. Such cables are limited to residential or other small applications where the number of communication cables used is very little.