Cat6 Ethernet Cable Question

I have a gigabit router and getting a gigabit switch tomorrow, so I spent last night looking at all my cables. Turns out I had a bunch of old CAT5 cables, some CAT5e cables, and a couple Cat6 cables. CAT5 Vanilla doesn’t support gigabit ethernet, so they’re out. Being short, I ordered a bunch of CAT6 cables on Monoprice last night. It wasn’t until the order invoice that I realized some of them were crossover cables.

I know that most modern ethernet ports can sense if its a plain or crossover cable, but will this cause problems? I’m plugging my router to a switch, then the switch to my desktop. Or if I plug my router to my Xbox One?

Yeah, you’ll need ethernet, unfortunately - the send and receive wires on’t be lined up correctly, otherwise. Crossovers are good for hub-to-hub connections, but won’t help with connecting your PC to the net.

Properly wired CAT5 cables (with all 4 pairs) will support gigabit just fine, as long as the distance isn’t too great. The only difference between CAT5 and 6 is the wire gauge.

Cat5 may work. It did not work for me. Cat5e will work.

Cat5 with no “e” hasn’t been produced since 2001 so it’s getting incresingly difficult to find anyway.

Cat 6 is so cheap I would probably replace all the cat 5 (even though most of mine worked when I did use them on gigabit). I did this several years ago.
Just look for auto mdix on the switch. If it has that feature the crossover cables should work ok.

You can build or buy crossover to straight cable adapters.

I believe the only difference between 5e and 6 was PoE (Power Over Ethernet, if the device supports it), which is much more reliable/efficient (and cooler) with 6 than 5e.

Some devices auto-sense and switch themselves (Airport, at any rate – I presume they aren’t the only ones).

Allright, I’ve got all CAT5e or CAT6 now. Gigabit ethernet is now rocking.

Out of curiosity, is there a good way to dispose of CAT5 cable? I hate throwing things away that can be recycled, and isn’t there copper in it?

If you have a lot of it, it’s worth taking to a scrapyard for the metal. Alternatively, if you play around with breadboarding, arduino, etc, you can strip the outer layer and use the interior wires for soldering around. If you just want to get rid of it in a smug Prius-owning earth-loving kind of way, Best Buy will accept it for recycling no questions asked. It’s also excellent for autoerotic asphyxiation, but be sure to wear a scarf so it doesn’t leave a mark.

Darn you Stusser, laughing fizzy drink up the nose hurts.

Get out of my fucking closet, Stusser.