A 4 MP IP camera sends about 4 to 8 Mbps. Even a 4K camera stays under 20 Mbps. On paper a CAT6 cable rated for 1,000 Mbps is a hundred times more than enough, so the question we get at the counter is fair: why do we recommend CAT6A for most camera jobs?
The camera is not the problem. The run is.
Camera cables are long, they are bundled, and they carry power. A home network run is 15 m to a wall plate. A camera run is 60 to 90 m to a pole, through a tray with thirty other camera cables, carrying PoE at 48 V the whole way. Those three things — length, bundle, power — are exactly where the difference between 24 AWG CAT6 and 23 AWG CAT6A shows up.
Length and PoE
The standard channel is 100 m: 90 m of fixed cable plus 10 m of patch cords. A camera at 85 m on 24 AWG copper will link, but the thinner conductor drops more voltage over the run, so the PoE switch works harder and a heater-equipped dome in a hot compound can brown out at start-up. WIAN Neo and Gold Series cables use 23 AWG solid copper with a conductor resistance of 93.8 Ω/km on the datasheet; our catalogue rates them for CCTV cameras up to 200 m, with a PoE extender or mid-point switch once a leg passes 100 m. For runs over 70 m, or any run that powers a PTZ or a heated camera, use CAT6A.
Bundles
Put twenty camera cables in one tray and they induce noise into each other — alien cross-talk. On a short run it does not matter. On a long run with a cheap NVR port it shows up as the camera dropping to 100 Mbps or going offline at night when the IR LEDs switch on and current jumps. Gold Series CAT6A has Wi-Barrier Tape around the four pairs, a non-metallic barrier that stops alien cross-talk without turning the cable into a shielded cable. No earthing, no shielded jacks; terminate it like any U/UTP cable.
So which one?
Up to 60 m, indoors, under ten cameras, ordinary bullet or dome cameras: WIAN Spark Series CAT6 (WC-1212G indoor, WC-1213K outdoor) is a sound choice and the money saved goes into a better NVR. Anything longer, anything outdoors in a compound, anything in a riser with other cables, PTZ or heated cameras: Neo Series CAT6A (WC-2212G indoor, WC-2268K outdoor double-jacket LDPE). Society and commercial jobs with camera bundles in a tray: Gold Series with Wi-Barrier Tape (WC-2217G indoor, WC-2264K outdoor).
One more reason
The cable stays in the wall for ten years. The 2 MP cameras you fit today will be replaced by 4K cameras with analytics before the cable is. CAT6A costs a little more per box; re-pulling a riser costs a weekend and a client.
Not sure where your job sits? Ask WI-MAN in the Cable Finder — three questions and you have a part code — or WhatsApp us the camera count and the longest run.