Cat6 cable on cat5e hardware

Almost three years after installing my cat5e home network, we're getting some major building works done and in addition to installing more catx cabling and points, I'm also thinking of upgrading almost all of the cat5e cabling with cat6 (it's much cheaper now than it was back in 2010). My question is, will I need to replace all the existing faceplates and the patch panel, all of which are cat5 certified?

I thought the only difference between cat5e and cat6 was that the latter is shielded cable.

Cat6 is NOT screened unless, as with Cat5e you specify screening.

Cat6 tends to be predominantly 23AWG rather than 24 AWG used in Cat5e. There is an internal plastic separator for the pairs and the bend radius is larger and the cable less flexible.

Given that Cat5e can handle Gbit - do you really need to replace it?

Given that Cat5e can handle Gbit - do you really need to replace it?

I'm just thinking of future-proofing, though I take your point. I'd prefer not to have to replace existing cable.

So I guess I can use my existing hardware with cat6 infrastructure cable?

I would echo the comments above. Plenum CAT6 even for 1000 ft is under $250 and will take significant amounts of time to run. I would much rather climb around the house once than do it multiple times. My sense is that your average job will take 10+ hours so you are talking ~$20 or less to do it right.

Now, that said, might you want to run BOTH CAT5e and CAT6 at the same time... maybe. Much easier as those above mention to run two or four cables at once than to run two cables at two different times.

Also, when purchasing my home the fact that it had wiring in place was a major advantage to me. The previous owner even had two Ethernet ports wired to the TV area.

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