Cat5 vs Cat5e vs Cat6

[Legion]

What is the difference in construction between these? Since the cables all have to fit into the same jacks and still have 8 conductors it doesn't seem like you could change too much. Do they just heavier gauge wires for Cat6?

[David_AVD]

There must be hundreds of Google search results about this.   

[Legion]

There must be hundreds of Google search results about this.   

You're right, my search terms were bad. Too late now. For future reference:

Category 5, 5e, 6, 6e, and 6a UTP have four pairs of twisted wires. The reason why each pair of wires is twisted around each other is to allow one wire to cancel out any interference in the second wire in the pair. Category 5e and CAT5 have the same basic construction including the wire type and gauge , but with higher standards in manufacturing and installation such as and the number of twists per foot of each pair. Category 6 UTP is a slightly thick wire gauge. #22 instead of the #24 gauge wire for each pair found n 5 and 5e. It contains a contains a physical separator, a plastic separator that runs the length of the cable. It looks like a plus symbol when turned and viewed from a cut side and is the separator between the four twisted pairs to reduce electromagnetic interference between the pairs and reduce data noise.