Question
What is the maximum distance for copper cable?
Answer
The maximum distance for standard copper Ethernet cables is 100 meters (328 feet). This applies to most categories, including Cat5e, Cat6, and Cat6a. Beyond this distance, you may experience signal degradation, reduced speeds, and increased packet loss.
Here are some specifics:
Cat5e: Supports up to 1 Gbps at 100 meters.
Cat6: Supports up to 10 Gbps at 55 meters, and 1 Gbps at 100 meters.
Cat6a: Supports up to 10 Gbps at 100 meters.
If you need to extend your network beyond 100 meters, you can use solutions like network switches, fiber optic cables, or long-range wireless devices.