Instead, over the years Cat 6, then Cat 6A, and more recently, Cat8 Ethernet cables have become more common as networks are built and upgraded, and Cat 7 has largely been sidelined. What about Cat7A? Should you upgrade to Cat7? No! Upgrade to Cat8 instead. It’s incredibly fast, has the most robust shielding of any category of Ethernet cable, and it will continue to be supported long into the future. Cat 7 will not. Shop Cat6A No doubt while shopping for Ethernet cable you have seen Cat7 cabling for sale. What exactly is this type of cable and should you use it? Let’s see if we can let the “Cat” out of the proverbial bag! The Cat you don’t need or even want... As for cost, Cat 8 Ethernet cables are typically a little more expensive, but considering you get the ratified and official standard and supported features, as well as more impressive rated performance, there really is no competition: Cat8 cables are better. You probably don't need Cat7. Use Cat6A or Cat8 instead There is also a plan to increase the speeds of Cat5e to 5 Gbps over the existing cables, known as the IEEE P802.3bz standard, which also works on Cat6 cabling.

Although designed with that 10 Gbps bandwidth in mind, Cat 7 actually proved even more capable in real-world use, with some high-quality Cat 7 Ethernet cables able to transmit up to 40 Gbps over 50 meters, and 100 Gbps over 15 meters. The cables aren’t rated for that kind of speed, but it shows what a capable solution it was when first launched, making it all the more impactful that Cat 7 was not adopted more widely.

Connectors for Cat 7 Ethernet Cables

The lifespan of the two different cable types also differs. Cat6 has an average lifespan of about 10 years, whereas Cat7 cabling is going to last you around 15. This has resulted in little to no developmental work on Cat7A-compatible products, making it mostly useless, despite its impressive capabilities. Those other categories of cable were part of the standard development of Ethernet cables. They improved incrementally generation upon generation and were released in a fairly uniform manner over the years, but Cat 7 was an attempt to leapfrog ahead of that, delivering much greater performance potential years ahead of comparable Ethernet cable designs.

Cat7 cables do have stricter standards for crosstalk than Cat6, roughly comparable with Cat6A. It typically achieves this with a tighter twisting of the internal wires, though you can also get Cat 7 cables which have shielding of the twisted pairs, and an overall braid or foil wrap for the cable as a whole, doubling the layers of shielding over older categories of Ethernet cabling. What is Cat7? Similar but not the same Although it's not recognized by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), Category 7 cable debuted in 2010 and is aimed at data centers and server rooms where top speed counts. Each cable is double-shielded: around each pair of wires and an overall shield around the entire bundle of wires. This extra isolation is needed because the 600MHz frequency used can push a maximum of 10Gbps over 330 feet. More recently, the introduction of Cat 7A cable increases the speed to 1GHz and throughput to 40Gbps, but tops out at 165 feet. Cat 8 Cable: The new 2GHz speed limitSo, that covers the North American ANSI/TIA side. How does Cat7 compare? Cat7 is defined by ISO/IEC 11801.

NBASE-T is also a game changer. Now, 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T are realities for existing Cat5e and Cat6 (respectively) unshielded cable installations. These speeds will satisfy all but the most demanding home and small business users. See more about NBASE-T in Just What is NBASE-T? A note on both Cat7 and Cat8Cat 7 ethernet cables feature four individually shielded pairs as well as an overall cable shield to protect the signals from crosstalk and EMI. Cat7 cables are designed for use in Industrial Ethernet networks, designed to withstand the entire spectrum of environmental and mechanical hazards, from temperature extremes and sunlight to solvents, oils, chemicals and moisture. Cat 7 Ethernet Cable Support If you’re already running Cat 6 or Cat 6A, it’s not necessary. What you have is more than fast enough and the standard shielding of both cable standards is perfect for home use. If you’re running older Cat 5 cables, however, you may want to upgrade to benefit from the improved performance and shielding of newer Ethernet cables.