This quick post is for those with a 2.5Gb PoE device, such as a WiFi 6 access point, that either won’t run at 2.5GbE speeds at all or falls back to 1Gb or 100Mpbs after a short time.
On my home network I have several TP-Link devices. Relevant to this article is my EAP670 WiFi access point and TL-SG3210XHP-M2 2.5GbE PoE+ switch. And for some reason the EAP670 wouldn’t run faster than 100Mpbs.
Sound familiar? Well there’s a simple solution I’m surprised I never thought of sooner: DON’T. USE. CAT5E! Don’t use Cat6 either.
To be sure your 2.5Gb PoE device will talk at 2.5GbE speed, use Cat6A or Cat7. When I switched out the Cat5E cable for Cat7, it had no problem staying at 2.5Gb. You might get away with Cat6, but you’re better off using Cat6A or Cat7.
Cat5E will work fine for non-PoE 2.5GbE devices. But it won’t work for 2.5GbE POE. Again, use Cat6A or Cat7.
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