Cat 5e vs Cat 6 Ethernet Patch Cables?

The internet from the router isn't anywhere near gigabit speeds anyway. iirc it's about 150megabit rate internet. Don't know if Windows is reporting it wrong but Windows reports the network speed as being gigabit speed. The cat 6 cables that i use are flat so have the advantage of being easier to keep tidy (got some "mounting points" for cable ties that stick to the wall with stick pads).

Here in the UK it's more common for homes that aren't flats/apartments to have brick or concrete internal walls than wooden internal walls

 

So it really depends on what you are using the cables for. If you are talking WAN (internet things), then you may not need more than CAT5E depending on whether you are residential or corporate. I work for an exchange so I see all different types of complicated private line and internal networking setups with aggregated layers, multihomed devices and all. Most of what we do is long distance, so primarily optical, but the question remains, what kind of speed do you need? Are you planning for future expansion? If talking internal network, maybe you want to build out that infrastructure ahead of time to handle larger loads to avoid needing to redo parts of your infra in the near future. I guess its kind of a loaded question. Usually I would say though you will have/want higher speeds on your internal network than may be necessary to carry data across the internet. 2 cents.

 

I'm hoping to get a couple of V6 boxes (don't know what they're known as outside of the UK). With them say you've got a HD quality film that you've recorded from a tv channel stored on one V6 box, you can access the recording from another V6 box on your home network. Each both might be doing so, and there's always the possibility of PCs at the same time downloading windows updates and possibly Steam downloading new games or updates for games.

I'm sticking with using powerline adapters as i don't want all the mess or hassle of installing cat 6 which would probably require cutting channels into the plasterboard (possibly fitting the cables in ducting) and then plastering over and painting. If I were to ever to move into a new property then I'd install cat 6 (maybe even cat 7) before redecorating (and also maybe re-wire and/or re-plumb depending on the state of the existing utilities in the house)

 

That is somewhat correct but the source that you cut and pasted from does not give the whole picture. Cat 6 cables are only good for up 164 feet for 10Gb transmissions. You need to go to Cat 6a for the full 328 feet (100 meters) that the Ethernet spec outlines. Here is the real world issue for the OP: almost no home consumer devices will come anywhere near 10Gb throughput. 1Gb is also mostly a fantasy. So, worrying about those high rates of throughput outside of the data center is not a really high value thing to do. Will that change in the future? Absolutely, but how many years ahead that will be remains to be seen.

One good reason to consider Cat 6 is that it has better safeguards against noise interference from outside electronic and/or mechanical devices. That's why a lot of manufacturing facilities use Cat 6 (though they will also want the shielded variety which adds even more protection.