Cat6 and Cat5e connectors may look alike, Cat6 connectors have much better transmission performance. For example, at 100 MHz, NEXT of a Cat5e connector is 43 decibels (dB), while NEXT of a Category 6 connector is 54 dB. This means that a Cat6 connector couples about 1/12 of the power that a Category 5e connector couples from one pair to another pair. On the other hand, you could say that a Cat6 connector is 12 times less "noisy" compared to a Cat5e connector. This huge improvement in performance was achieved with new technology, new processes, better materials and significant R&D resources, leading to higher costs for manufacturers.