What networking wire should I pull?

[Micah]

As some of you know I'm getting prepped to pull some networking wire through out my house. I've got most of the layout figured but as I was getting ready to buy some Cat5 I realized I should see what the recommendation is for future proofing.

I know Cat5 works for 10/100 base-T networks, but what about Gigabit? I've heard about Cat6 and thought maybe that's what I should go for, but is there anything beyond that worth looking at instead?

 

[electron]

Just pull cat5e, which is rated for gigabit speeds and cheaper than cat6 (pretty much the same thing anyways).

 

[Micah]

Cat5e it is. Thanks for the info.

 

[jlehnert]

Absolutely Cat5E. Cat6 is a slightly larger gauge (25 vs 26 on cat5/5e), and you need ALL cat6 equipment to use it. Major PITA to run.

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

Yep, ditto. Cat6 has a lot more restrictions as far as bends, etc too