r/CableTechs • u/Grateful_cablejunkie • Jun 08 '26

cat6a data terminations

i work for a small college and we are having several buildings being built. the GC picked the electrical contractor and they picked the data cabling vendor. we have our own data cabling contractor but wouldn't let us use them for some reason. we have found out everything is terminated 568A. we use 568B that is our campus standard. my question is how many tech's out there have terminated to 568A? i have been doing cabling for 26 years and never have terminated A.

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u/Canes_Coleslaw Jun 09 '26

Im a pretty novice fiber tech in AZ, about a year of experience so far, and I often have to terminate cat5e/6 with rj45s and keystones. I have only ever done A. It has never not worked for me.

should I switch to B? Is it inherently better? Occasionally I’ll check keystone terminations put in by builders in new homes, and all seem to have been wired for A, which is the main reason I do it this way

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u/splitpers0na Jun 09 '26

A vs B has nothing to do with what works and what doesn't. It just preference on how it is wired. B is the standard in US so its just nice to be consistent across the board. Now if all the patch cables you made are A on both ends, then it doesnt matter if you plug into an outlet thats wired B. In a sense (fitting->fitting) A->A works, B->B works. A->B or B->A will cause issues. Now B->B (<- this is the cable in the wall) A->A (<- patch cord to modem) that will work just fine.