3 Primary Uses for a Category 6 Cable

Nearly all computer network connections are made using some type of ethernet cable, and category 6 cable is by far the best. While not every network connection benefits from the speed and power of cat 6 cables, there are many situations where a network will have noticeably lower performance if it uses slower cables. For example, in order to get the full benefits of a fast internet connection, you will need to use cat 6 cable. The following article should give you a good idea of cat 6 cable's various uses.

Connecting a Computer to a Router

Cat 6 cables are commonly used for all types of network connections. The most common is probably connecting a computer to a router. There are many reasons to want to do this - the most common is to have a physical connection to a router that is connected to a modem so that your computer can have a connection to the internet. Cat 6 cable is great for this purpose due to its high speed. If you have a particularly high speed connection, you will not be able to take advantage of it if you have a slower cable. This is because the cable will only transmit information at its own maximum speed, no matter how high speed your connection is in theory.

You may also want to connect a computer to a wireless router for several reasons. If your computer does not have a wireless card, for example, you will need to physically connect it to your router to gain a connection to the internet. Alternatively, you may wish to share a connection your computer has to the internet—or a local network—with a wireless router in order to allow your other computers and devices to connect wirelessly.

Connecting a Hub to a Modem

It is also common to see a hub or router connected to a modem with a category 6 cable. This conveys the same advantages as any cat 6 cable connection. Whatever your internet connection speed might theoretically be, it is only as strong as its weakest link. Using a slower cable to connect your router to your modem invalidates any speed gain your connection might have, no matter what you use to connect your router to your computer!

Creating a Local Area Network

In addition to connecting to the internet, category 6 cables are often used to create local network connections between multiple on-site computers and devices. While you might not think it, using high speed cables in this scenario can actually be more important than using them to connect to the internet. Though broadband is becoming more and more common, and internet connection speeds are always increasing as technology advances, the truth is that many high-speed connections are not fast enough to be held back by slower ethernet cables. However, over a local network, faster cables will mean faster speeds. Whether you are transferring files between computers, splitting an internet connection multiple ways, or even playing the latest multiplayer game on your computers, you will see a performance improvement if you use category 6 cable.