TIA/EIA-568-B. CAT-6 UTP Patch Cable UTP
Category 6 cable, the standard for which was defined in 2002, raises the bandwidth limit to 250 MHz; as a practical matter, Category 6 cable, like Category 5E, currently supports gigabit Ethernet (speeds of up to 1000 mbps). When the standard was released, Category 6 cable was described as "being able to support future applications." In practice there are few areas in traditional networking environments where Category 6 cable would be required (as opposed to Category 5E cable).
Shorter runs of Category 6 cable can even support speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (10,000 mbps), a speed that would otherwise require Category 6A wire. Category 6 cable is also often necessary for some non-traditional uses; for example, converters that can transform HDMI video signals for transmission over network wire often require the additional frequency support found in Category 6 cable.
