Does using cat5e cables yield any disadvantages in combination with cat6/cat6a network?

Question

If I were to have a fully compliant cat6 or cat6a network running through my walls... that is to say, wires and jacks... What would be the concequence of plugging a cat5e wire into one of the jacks? I'm assuming that it would still run at cat5e standards, but obviously not cat6/6a standards because the whole connection is not cat6.

I only ask because it seems silly to me to make a bunch of cat6 patch cables for connections that don't really matter, like standard desktop computers and other equipment. Or will doing so hamper the whole network?

Answer 1

Note: my answer assumes you have plugged all these Cat6 cables into an ethernet switch or router. My answer also assumes all cables have been pinned and terminated correctly.

If I were to have a fully compliant cat6 or cat6a network running through my walls... that is to say, wires and jacks... What would be the concequence of plugging a cat5e wire into one of the jacks?

Speaking as a professional network engineer, the only meaningful consequence is possibly lower speed negotiated on that particular link.

I'm assuming that it would still run at cat5e standards, but obviously not cat6/6a standards because the whole connection is not cat6.

Correct assumption

will doing so hamper the whole network?

Nope. Furthermore, the compelling reason for using wiring rated higher than Cat5e is 1GigE or 10GE speeds; however, Cat5e is capable of 1GE as well.

Answer 2

According to wikipedia, CAT 6 standard:

Category 6 cable, commonly referred to as Cat 6, is a cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet and other network physical layers that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable standards. Compared with Cat 5 and Cat 5e, Cat 6 features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise. The cable standard provides performance of up to 250 MHz and is suitable for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX (Fast Ethernet), 1000BASE-T/1000BASE-TX (Gigabit Ethernet) and 10GBASE-T (10-Gigabit Ethernet).

And Cat 5e:

The specification for Category 5 cable was defined in ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A, with clarification in TSB-95. These documents specified performance characteristics and test requirements for frequencies of up to 100 MHz.

Assuming these premisses, you can see that the main phisical reason to addopt a Cat 6/6a wire and conectors is the possibility to use more than 100 MHz to send/receive data signals, what you will actually ned only on Gigabit speed(such as 1000BaseTX Gigabit ethernet).

Adding Cat 6/6e conectors on a Cat 5e wire network will only provide the capability to use up to 250MHz into your conectors, what wouldn't be noticeable in terms of speed on any way(unless your Cat 5E conectors are bad) because the main device on a wired network is acutally the wire, not the connectors. Actually, if you had a Cat 6 wire network using Cat 5e conectors then you could maybe see your Gigabit Ethernet running Ok(Ok not means good or perfect, you could see a lot of packet loss).

If you want to use a Cat 6/6a network, then you should use all components of this standard(cables, connectors and actives) and not only one of this component alone.