Cat6A: the Workhorse of 10 Gigabit

Cat6A is the category most new commercial installations should be specifying, and the reason is narrower than the marketing suggests. Category 6 already carries 10GBASE-T — but only to about 55 m, and only when the alien crosstalk environment is favourable. Category 6A was created specifically to make 10 Gigabit work to the full 100 m channel in a real bundle, next to other cables carrying the same traffic. That is the whole point of it.

Once 10 Gigabit stopped being an edge case, everything else followed: wireless access points that need more than a gigabit, PoE lighting and device loads that heat a bundle, and building networks expected to last fifteen years.

What Cat6A gives you

Choosing the shielding

This is the decision that actually matters on a Cat6A order, and it is usually made by habit rather than by environment:

• U/UTP — unshielded. Smaller diameter, easier to route, no bonding scheme to design. Correct for ordinary commercial interiors, and the volume choice.
• U/FTP — foil around each pair. Kills alien crosstalk in tight bundles without the diameter of a full braid. Often the right answer in dense risers and patch fields.
• S/FTP (SSTP) — braid over foiled pairs. The heaviest option, for genuinely noisy electrical environments, and it needs a proper earthing scheme to deliver anything.

Ask two questions and the choice makes itself: how tightly will these cables be bundled, and what else is running alongside them?

PoE, heat and bundle size

The quiet problem with modern Cat6A installations is thermal, not electrical. PoE current heats the conductors; a tightly packed bundle traps that heat; higher temperature raises insertion loss on every cable in the bundle, which shortens the usable run. Conductor gauge and bundle discipline matter as much as the category on the box. Send us the run lengths, the power budget and the bundle sizes, and we will specify the construction against them rather than against a part number.

Density in the rack

Standard Cat6A cord is thick, and a 48-port panel of it does not bend the way the drawing assumed. Our ultra-slim construction exists for exactly that: markedly smaller outside diameter for patch-field routing and airflow, in Cat6A U/UTP and U/FTP. It is a patching product — for horizontal permanent link, specify the standard construction.

Certification and testing

Wider Cable has manufactured Ethernet cable since 2005, from raw copper to finished reel, across our Dongguan and Hưng Yên facilities. Every cord is Fluke-tested before it ships, and we hold UL, c(UL), ETL, CPR, RoHS, REACH, CE, SGS, ISO and TÜV.

Related: Cat6A Ethernet cables · Cat8 patch cables · Cat7 patch cables · Cat6 patch cables

Common questions

Is Cat6A worth the cost over Cat6?

For 10GBASE-T beyond about 55 m, or in any dense bundle, yes — that is precisely the gap Cat6A was written to close. For gigabit endpoints with a fixed ceiling, Cat6 is the better buy.

Do I need shielded Cat6A?

Not usually. U/UTP is correct for ordinary commercial interiors. Move to U/FTP for very dense bundles, and to S/FTP only when the electrical environment genuinely demands it and an earthing scheme exists.

Can you supply ultra-slim Cat6A cords?

Yes, in U/UTP and U/FTP. They are intended for patch fields and rack density rather than for horizontal permanent link runs.

Do you supply to a schedule of mixed lengths and colours?

That is the normal OEM order. Send the schedule with quantities per length and colour, plus any labelling or packaging requirement.