How to Tell if Contractor Used Cat 6 or Not?

camb

Young grasshopper
Aug 2, 2016
52
0
Paid a contractor to run Cat6 for security cameras, access points, and wall jacks. I'm not getting the speed I expected and I see remnants of ethernet cable from the previous owner. How can I definitively tell which cables and wall jacks are Cat 6?
 
Just a few thoughts on this. What kind of speed are you expecting? What are you using to test your network speed? Are all your switches GIG switches?
You might have to pull a wall jack and look at the cable, you can usually yank out enough to see the cable, it is usually marked every foot or so. Even if it is cat 6 , you might have had a crappy install causing your issue or you have some hardware issue bottle necking your network. Can't help you much without more info.
 
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First off, Gigabit Ethernet was designed to run on Cat5. Cat6 is future-proofing. So if you have problems with the cables, it's more likely due to a physical problem than not having Cat6 cables/jacks. Often the jacks will say what they are rated. The only way to see what the cable is, is to open a wall plate and look at the cable.

A real network installer should have a high end tester that can check the quality of the connections. I know I've seen a keystone jack that failed end to end testing, even after repeated punch downs, so I tossed the jack. Another jack from the same box tested good. A cheap wire map tester would have passed the defective jack. A reputable installer will want you to be happy with the work, have you contacted them?

I think the real question should be, "how can I tell why the connection between point A and point B are not what I expect?". With a description of what point A and B are, the physical path it travels, and any equipment in the middle.
 
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