I just wanted to start a thread on ethernet cables that I think would help people less familiar with the technology. Today I realized there is a huge bottleneck in my home network, and the culprit is none other than my network cables. To help you maximize your data transfer rate, here's a list of some common network technologies and their theoretical maximum data transfer rates (remember Mbps is megabits per second, not megabytes. To get megabytes divide by 8):

LAN ports:
10/100 = 100 Mbps
10/100/1000 = 1000 Mbps/1Gbps (also known as gigabit)
Wireless:
Wireless G = 54Mbps
Wireless N = 600Mbps
Cables:
(speed only up to 100 meters/328 feet)
Cat5 = somewhat less than Cat5e, I've heard 155Mbps, but not sure
Cat5e = up to 1000Mbps/1Gbps
Cat6 = up to 10000Mbps/10Gbps

Cat5e cables at a maximum can transmit at the Gigabit range, and not over long distances or for very long durations. Cat6 is becoming more common for Gigabit connections for its superior speed, transmission quality, and relative inexpensive price ($9 for a 10-foot cable on Newegg). For example, I noticed a lag in my network and the video skipping while playing Blu-rays over the home network to my laptop connected to our TV. 54Mbps, our G-network, is more than enough bandwidth to play these smoothly, but a Cat5 cable was connecting our Media PC upstairs to the router. Try to find these kinds of problems in your home and fix them; get the most out of your network and hardware! Just check the printing on the cable-it will tell you which kind of cable it is.