Cat5e is much faster than you think
In the world of networking, upgrades rarely happen in a straight line. While newer standards constantly emerge promising faster speeds and greater bandwidth, sometimes the reality of the budget and existing inventory dictates where the cables end up.
Take Cat5e, for example. When technologies like Cat6, Cat6a, and multi-gigabit Ethernet became widely available and affordable, it felt like Cat5e should have been retired long ago. It simply doesn’t offer the bandwidth potential that modern devices demand.
Yet, despite these advancements, I still find myself relying on Cat5e in my personal homelab setup. This isn’t an oversight; it’s a matter of practical economics and nostalgia.
The reason is simple: I invested in a spool of Cat5e cables years ago, and there is no joy in wasting perfectly functional material. In the world of tech upgrades, sometimes the most sensible choice is honoring what you already have.
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