Tuesday, July 13, 2010

CAT3 vs CAT4 vs CAT5 vs CAT5e vs CAT6

CAT3- contains 4 pairs of wires and can carry up to 10Mbps with a possible bandwidth of 16MHz. (UTP)

CAT4- contains 4 pairs of wires and can carry up to 16Mbps with a possible bandwidth of 20MHz. (UTP)

CAT5- contains 4 pairs of wires and cancarry up to 100Mbps with a possible bandwidth of100MHz. However there is more than one variety. There is also FastCAT which has a possible bandwidth of up to 350MHz. (UTP)

CAT5e- a higher grade of CAT5 that contains high-quality copper, offers a higher twist ratio (to eliminate cross-talk) and can support a bandwidth of 200MHz (2x that of REGULAR CAT5) (UTP)

CAT6- a twisted pair cable that contains 4 wire pairs each wrapped in foil insulation (to eliminate cross-talk). Additional foil covers the bundle of wires (to eliminate cross-talk further, and shield it from other interference ie. EMF from flourescent lights) and a fire-resistant plastic sheath covers the second foil layer. CAT6 supports at least six times the throughput of regular CAT5, but it is also 3-4x the price of CAT5. (STP)

UTP=Unshielded Twisted Pair
STP=Shielded Twisted Pair

5 comments:

Mark Winstanley said...

Your blog was absolutely fantastic! Great deal of great information and this can be useful some or maybe the other way. Keep updating your blog, anticipating to get more detailed contents

Cat6 Cabling Services

Unknown said...

I would appreciate it if you would let me know that what's so common between Ethernet Cables and the creature that is placed in the top of your article.

Arnoldpeter said...

I appreciate your Blog it got Some Informative Stuffs on Cat6 and Cat5e cabling systems. Nice Article Thanks For Sharing this. Keep Posting

If want to check more information on Cat5e cables Please click here Cat5e Cables

SFCable said...

I really appreciate this wonderful post that you have provided for us. I assure this would be beneficial for most of the people.

Ethernet Network Cables

hemmymission said...

This blog aware me about different programs which can become very useful for our friends and kids. Few websites provide combined courses and few of the are separately for single subject. Glad to get this information.
jz-500