Choosing the Right Ethernet Cable for Your Home Network - Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat7?

wired networks are reliable fast and secure but which cable should you choose for your particular home network let's find out which cable is right for your home network situation to make this easy I'm going to break this down into three different categories of home networks from a basic home network with a modem and a router with three to four users with internet speeds up to 150 megabits per second to an intermediate home network with a modem router and switch with four to eight users with internet speeds up to one gigabit per second in this type of network we'll have gaming as well as video streaming and finally an advanced home network or Enterprise Network this network is comprised of a modem router and a managed switch it may also contain several access points as well as Poe cameras and home automation in this kind of network will typically have vlans a VPN dozens of wired connections and has six to ten users most likely gaming video streaming data transfer of massive files and will definitely contain a home office where a secure network is very important so first let's talk about the basic home network this is by far the most common Network if you have a basic home network with the modem and a router or a modem router combo and your ISP speeds are around 150 megabits per second and no more than 300 megabits per second then I recommend Cat5e like I said before Cat5e is 1000 megabits per second and if you're only getting 150 megabits per second or even 300 megabits per second then Cat5e is plenty a Cat6 cable will not improve your network however if you plan to upgrade to an intermediate Network within six months or a year you may want to get castix cables to allow for future proofing but is still not necessary because even with the one gig ISP connection a Cat5e can handle it so the bottom line with the basic cone Network I would stick with Cat5e it's plenty of speed and I'll save you some money okay now let's talk about the next level in home networking the intermediate home network this network has a modem a router and a switch and sometimes the switch is managed especially if you have Poe connections like for cameras or video doorbell and this type of network will most likely have one gig speed from the ISP this type of network could have a media server like a Nas it probably streams a lot of movies and online gaming and most likely has four to eight users in this type of network I recommend Cat6 cabling any of the three will work well Cat6 cat6a or cat6e and just a heads up Cat5e will still work with this network however you're pushing it with cap 5e you can get no more than one gig speeds especially at long distances with Cat6 you have plenty of room for expansion so when the day comes you want to take it to the next level there'll be no worries about your wiring you'll be all good okay now we're going to talk about Advanced home networks which is my favorite and is probably the least common of the networks and that's because these networks can be very complicated with dozens of ethernet wires multiple wireless access points multiple switches some managed and some Plug and Play these networks will have vlans with firewalls and a VPN in typical internet speeds will be one gig or greater and these types of networks will often have server racks where all your devices will connect so what cable would you use for an advanced home network leave your answer in the comments below because I'm sure everybody's got their opinion hey and since you're watching my video you most likely want to know my opinion and my answer inside the walls should be cat7 now wait a minute don't start hating yet inside the walls only would I run cat7 outside the walls I would run Cat6 and there's a few reasons why I want to do this first it's future proofing your network trying to rewire our house can be a huge pain like I said before cat7 wires have a 15-year guarantee so spend the extra money and get cat7 and inside the house you can use Cat6 and when the day comes to swap it out for a cat 7 it'll be easy only one connection when I have a cat7 inside the house and that's from your modem to your router and that's because this is the backbone of your home network and if that cat7 cable is short like 15 meters you can theoretically Run 100 gigabits per second on it which will never happen but it's pretty cool so this video should have answered the question which cable type do you need for your network and guys I want to encourage you to visit my patreon page or two dollars a month helps keep this channel going and for every new member I do a personal shout out in the very next video and guys remember if you like this video give a thumbs up and share it if you love it hit subscribe to keep this channel alive