With Gigabit Ethernet however, all four pairs can be used to transmit simultaneously, and so the cross talk on each pair has to be measured for the combined effects of the other three pairs.

Cat 6
At last! the standard for Cat 6 has been approved for publication by the EIA (TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1). Category 6 is capable of transmission frequencies up to 250Mhz and has a positive power sum attenuation to crosstalk ratio upto 200MHz using improved cables and RJ45 connectors. The problem that manufacturers have, is that to meet the Cat 6 specification, requires the use of cables and connectors which are designed to work together as a 'tuned' system. This means that if you install a Cat 6 system the manufacturer will only guarantee performance if all of the components including the patch leads are from their Cat 6 product range. In fact, by mixing Cat 6 components from different manufacturers you could end up with a system with worse performance characteristics than a conventional Cat 5e system. That said, it is worth noting that Cat 6 systems are backwards compatible with Cat 5/5e cabling and when mixed with these lower bandwidth systems the performance criteria of the lower specification will still be met.

Testing Cat 6 cables can be a frustrating process, apart from taking longer because the tester has to scan frequency steps up to 200MHz instead of 100MHz, the fine line between pass and fail is accentuated it seems by the slightest kink and twist. The most significant factor when testing a Cat 6 system can be return loss failures due to the test leads themselves. All connectors have a life cycle and with the average RJ45 connector this is around one or two thousand insertions, so test leads should be replaced after every 1000 tests or so. OK, not a problem but at around $200 per set this cost will have to be considered when pricing jobs.

Fluke seem to have a solution to this problem with their DSP-LIA101S Permanent Link Adapters. The connector at the end of the leads are interchangeable and replaceable with connectors from different manufacturers to ensure compatibility with the system under test. Although a good idea, the adapters are over $500 and a new pair of "Personality Modules" cost over $100. Surely the test plugs should now be considered as 'consumables' and the price lowered to reflect this.

Cat 7
This is proposed to be a 600MHz system using a shielded cable with individually screened pairs and a new type of connector. The cable and connectors are slightly bigger than Cat 5e and installation time can be increased because of the complexity of the termination. There are two main draw backs with installing this type of cabling, the first is the additional cost involved, and the second is that almost all networking hardware uses RJ45 jacks. To connect to the cabling system, you have to use Cat 7 to Cat 5e patch leads, and because any system is only as good as its weakest link, your speed is back down to 100MHz. Ratification of the Cat 7 standard could be two years away by which time fibre might be a cheaper alternative.

Shielded or Unshielded
This is a subject that has been debated and argued over for a long time, and as yet, there are still no definite answers. Most countries in Europe, and in particular Germany, argue that apart from protecting data signals against high frequency noise from outside sources, shielded cable also protects the humans against the possibility of having their brains fried due to the effects of high frequency emissions from the cable itself. Other countries, such as the UK, US and Canada, aren't particularly bothered by this because nothing has been proved, and after all, millions of people wander around with mobile phones pressed against the side of their heads with no apparent side effects, er... yet. My advice would be to install unshielded cable unless the customer insists on a shielded system.

Shielded cables and components are more expensive and are more time consuming to terminate, you should also bear in mind that a shielded cable that isn't properly grounded has worse performance characteristics than an unshielded cable. If a shielded cable isn't grounded at all, the screen can act like an antenna and induce all manner of noise on to the data signal.

Low Smoke Zero Halogen
In public buildings, such as airports, shops and hospitals, then the cable should be Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LS0H or LSZH).