11 June 2026 · 6 min read
Cat6 or Cat6A: choosing cabling for a new Tricity office
Cat6 for the desks, Cat6A for the runs feeding wireless access points and camera aggregation. Cable outlives three generations of the equipment plugged into it, so re-pulling later costs more than the cable ever did.
The decision is about the next fifteen years, not this year
Cabling is the longest-lived thing you will install. The switches will be replaced twice and the computers three times before anyone touches the cable in the ceiling. That is what makes it the wrong place to save a small amount of money.
The labour of pulling a cable, not the cable itself, is most of the cost. Re-pulling a run through a closed false ceiling in an occupied office costs several times what specifying it correctly the first time would have.
Where Cat6 is the right answer
For ordinary desk positions carrying a computer and an IP phone, Cat6 is comfortable, gigabit is more than those devices will ever ask for, and paying for more is paying for nothing.
Most Tricity offices are Cat6 throughout and correctly so. The exceptions are worth identifying at design time rather than discovering later.
Where the upgrade earns its cost
Choose Cat6A on the runs where more will be asked of the cable than a desk asks: the feeds to wireless access points, camera aggregation back to the recorder, links between floor switches, and anything reaching a server room.
Access points are the clearest case. A single modern access point can already saturate a gigabit link when a meeting room fills up, and the cable feeding it is in the ceiling, which is the most expensive place to revisit.
- Runs feeding wireless access points
- Camera aggregation and PoE uplinks to the recorder
- Links between floor switches and to the server room
- Any run over 70 metres, where headroom protects you
Distance decides more than category does
Copper stops being reliable past 90 metres of installed run, and installed runs are always longer than the straight-line distance suggests once trunking, risers and slack are counted. Most plants exceed it between buildings without realising.
Beyond that distance the answer is not a better copper category, it is fibre. Fibre also removes the electrical noise and lightning risk that long copper picks up crossing an open yard, which is why long copper runs between sheds keep failing in Mohali's industrial phases.
What to demand at handover
Certification results are the difference between cabling and string. Every run should be tested and the results supplied as a report, because that report is the only thing that lets you hold a contractor to the specification you paid for.
- A test result per run, supplied as a report you keep
- Both ends of every cable labelled to the same scheme
- A port map tied to a floor-plan reference
- Spare capacity in trunking and patch panels for the next ten desks
Also asked
Follow-up questions
Can we mix Cat6 and Cat6A in one building?
- Yes, and it is usually the sensible specification. Cat6A goes on the backbone, access-point feeds and camera aggregation; Cat6 goes to the desks. Both terminate on the same panels and switches.
Do IP phones and cameras need separate cabling?
- No. They use the same network sockets and draw power over the same cable through PoE, so a properly cabled office usually needs a switching upgrade rather than new runs.
How much spare capacity should be built in?
- Enough for the next ten desks, and trunking with visible room left in it. Adding a cable to a tray with space is a short job; adding one to a full tray means new containment and a second visit.
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