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CAT6 RJ45 crimping issues (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by velummortis@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/techsupport@lemmy.world

Are CAT6 RJ45s supposed to be physically different from their CAT5 counterparts? I've bought some CAT6 RJ45s to match my cables and feel like I'm hallucinating because they don't fit into the Ethernet port. I've looked around in local tech stores, bought online and see all the CAT6 RJ45s are the same everywhere else, but when I use a CAT5 RJ45 it actually fits into the Ethernet port in literally anywhere. Crimping is suddenly exponentially harder with CAT6 RJ45s too for some reason too and after years of practicing crimping I feel like it's a skill issue at this point. I even searched up just to be sure but while answers say they're the same my eyes and fingers are feeling the difference. What's going on? What am I doing wrong? I'm now doubting whether CAT6 RJ45s are even supposed to fit in my Ethernet ports at home.

Update: The answer really was the crimper all along... until I get a CAT6 crimper I guess I'll just crimp harder for now - now everything fits, 1 year and 2000 jacks later, how embarrassing...

Thanks very much, everyone!

Post-update: So the cable worked at 3am... only to crap out at 10am - apparently both my test cables are bad in the same wires (3-6) because as the ISP service guy says, "it could've broken on the inside since the shielding's so soft". They rewired everything and now everything's fine, I guess...

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[-] kuroshido@ani.social 8 points 3 weeks ago

Cat6 jacks are slightly different in their layout and crimping.

They’re 100% compatible with all your existing ports, however they do require a cat6 compatible crimper which crimps slightly deeper than on cat5.

So likely you’re having trouble because the pins are not deep enough and are preventing the jack from being insertable.

[-] velummortis@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 weeks ago

This is something I didn't know, I just used the crimper that came with my networking kit...

[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Going to need pics of what you are doing.

Some cat6 cable will have a plastic cross section you need to remove to get it into the RJ45 plug.

[-] velummortis@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 weeks ago

Sorry this took so long, here you go! CAT6 on the left, CAT5 on the right

[-] LazerDickMcCheese@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

They should be fitting...can I get a visual for what you're talking about?

[-] velummortis@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

Sorry this took so long, apparently nobody likes an HEIC...

The CAT6 I crimped is on the left, the CAT5 is the ISP's work.

this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2025
9 points (100.0% liked)

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