text: what are the main differences between cat5 ant cat6 cabel?   ok... to say that it's twists per foot is, although technically accurate, a pretty lame answer. there are three standards to speak of: cat 5, cat 5e, and cat 6. true cat 5 runs at 100 mbit/s. cat 5e is capable of 1000 mbit/s (gigabit). cat 6 is capable of 1000 mbit/s (same as cat 5e) but the difference is that due to the tighter twisting cat 6 provides much less noise and therefor significantly reduces error correction - especially over longer distances. in terms of a patch cable cat 6 will realize a 10 x increase in speed over cat 5 - but essentially no increase in speed versus a cat 5e. in terms of straight-through cabling cat 6 will realize a 10 x increase in speed versus cat 5 cabling. cat 6 will also realize a slight increase in speed compared to cat 5e over longer distances due to limited line noise. over shorter distances in a straight-through situation the difference between cat 5e and cat 6 is negligible. the trick to wiring cat 6 is to never strip more than one inch of shielding when terminating the wire. stripping (unpairing) more than an inch will decrease network quality.