You know as well as anyone who manages a business that you cannot operate a successful business in the 21st century without a sophisticated internet presence. Having a robust network in your business allows your employees to communicate with each other and with your clients very quickly. It provides them fast access to information and services so you can better serve your clients. To that end, it is important that you hire a professional to come and install a network at your business. However, all different kinds of cabling have different advantages and disadvantages.

A skilled installer will help you select the right cabling for your needs, but it is good for you to be informed beforehand. That way, you can speak knowledgeably with the technician.

Cat5E

Cat5E is an improvement upon the older Cat5 cable that has become something of a workhorse; it is the go-to cable for many installers for a general purpose installation. Cat5E is a very cost-effective cable that can easily operate at speeds of 1 gigabit. Most technicians are well skilled in how to handle this cable.

However, Cat5E is not the sturdiest cable; it can be easily damaged by bending or twisting. Therefore, it should only be installed where it is unlikely to be moved, because damage to the cable sometimes requires replacing an entire section of cable. Also, the signal can degrade over distance, so you would need a signal repeater installed about every one hundred metres.

Cat6a

Cat6a cable is a type of copper cable that is a dramatic improvement over Cat5E. This cable allows speeds up to ten gigabits. Besides the incredible speeds, the shielded and unshielded copper cable blocks a large amount of interference, so the signal stays strong. Over short distances, the speed is extremely fast. However, after about fifty metres, the signal begins to degrade.

A good installer can work up a system so that different hardware placements keep the signal from having to travel over fifty or so metres, but if you are looking for high speed over a long distance, you should look elsewhere.

10 Gigabit Ethernet

This is not specific cable, but instead, a group of standards that require a certain amount of qualities from a cable. Namely, the cable has to have a transmission rate of ten gigabits. This is a variety of a cable that is essentially anything that is not fibre optics and delivers the same speeds.

The main drawback of 10 Gigabit Ethernet is that it is going to be very expensive. When you are looking for widespread, fast transmission over a large area, you might want to look into different solutions. Wireless broadband has been making many advancements, as has fibre optics.

Whatever you decide to do, it is important you hire someone who understands your business. If you are in Brisbane, you should look for businesses that do data cabling in Brisbane. That way, they will understand the business climate in which you are operating. With an installer who understands your business, you can get the appropriate cable.