Category 5 also has 4 pairs of twisted-pair copper cable wire, which are terminated by RJ45 connectors.
Category 5 cables have a bandwidth of up to 100 MHz and speeds of up to gigabit (1000 Mbps). Category 5 cables can be used in ATM, token ring, Ethernet 1000Base-T, 100Bast-T and 10Base-T networks. Cat5 is one of the five levels of UTP cabling described in the EIA / TIA-586 standard.
There are two versions of Category 5 cable: UTP cable (unshielded twisted pair) and ScTP cable (shielded twisted pair). Category 5 UTP cables are commonly used in the United States, while ScTP Category 5 UTP cables are only common in Europe.
What is Cat5e cable?
Category 5e is an enhanced version of Category 5 (Cat5) cable, developed by TIA / EIA to improve certain cable characteristics that are important for Gigabit Ethernet operation. For example, it adds specifications for far-end crosstalk. It supports 1000Base-T Gigabit Ethernet.
Cat 5e (representing category 5, enhanced) cable runs along the same lines as the basic Cat 5, except that it meets higher data transmission standards. Although Cat 5 is common in existing wiring systems, Category 5e has almost completely replaced it in new installations. Cat 5e can process data transmission at 1000 Mbps, suitable for Gigabit Ethernet, and its near-end crosstalk (NEXT) level is much lower than Cat 5.
Cat5 and Cat5e cables look the same, but Cat5e cables are manufactured to a higher standard to allow higher data transmission rates. The most commonly used type of cable in the network is Cat5e. Cat5e cable was formally defined in the EIA / TIA-568B standard in 2001, which no longer recognizes the original Cat5.
