Home Networking Cable and equipment choice

Question

I wanted to rewire parts of my home, and got across the Cat Standards. However, when trying to shop for Cat6a, I almost always only come across Cat7 cables. Why is that the case ? Where can I get good Cat6a cable to put through walls, and also from the outlet to pcs as well as patchcables ?

I also heard that some people said that Cat7 is not compatible with RJ45 and Cat6a Patchpanels. Has someone experience with this ?

Answer 1

Cat6a supports 10Gbit Ethernet at runs of up to 100 meters. This is on the market today and is being well-received by the market and isn't going away.

Cat7 is still a big question mark. It remains to be seen if equipment that requires it will make it to market and be well received, or if the market will skip over it to something even better. There's also no market consensus on connectors and other installation best practices as far as I can tell.

So, if the cost of Cat7 cable doesn't bother you, pull Cat7 but terminate it like Cat6a for now, and if the market ever adopts Cat7, you (or the future owner of your home) will be thrilled to discover you don't have to pull new cable, you maybe just have to re-terminate the cable you pulled back in 2020.