Cut Sheet
11
ON-Q
DATA NETWORKING
CAT 3
Best application: 10BaseT Ethernet at 10Mbps
Bandwidth: 16MHz
CAT 5
Best application: 100BaseT Ethernet at 100Mbps
Bandwidth: 100MHz
CAT 6
Best application: 1000BaseT at 1000Mbps (1Gbps)
Bandwidth: 250MHz
CAT 6a
Best application: 10GBaseT at 10Gbps
Bandwidth: 500MHz
CAT 5e
Best application: 1000BaseT Ethernet at 250Mbps
Bandwidth: 100MHz
NETWORKING CABLE
REFERENCE GUIDE
CAT3
was a popular cabling format
for computer network
administrators in the early 1990s. It was
superseded when Cat 5 became standardized
because of its higher performance. It is
used only in two-line phone systems.
CAT5
was developed to support faster
100BaseT Ethernet standards. When
Gigabit Ethernet (1000BaseT) standards were
introduced, the Cat 5 cable became vulnerable
to crosstalk, which caused interference
and signal loss within the transmission.
CAT5e
superseded Cat 5 in 1999. It was
designed to reduce crosstalk
when transmitting 1000BaseT Ethernet. The “e” in
Cat 5e stands for “enhanced”. It is the most widely
used cable in residential installations today.
CAT6
was designed to transmit
1000BaseT at Gigabit speeds.
Cat 6 is a wider cable than Cat 5e with more
twists within its pairs to reduce crosstalk.
Cat 6 can also be used in shorter runs for
10GBaseT Ethernet, but is vulnerable to alien
crosstalk in a crowded cable environment.
C A T 6 a
was designed to transmit
10GBaseT, even in commercial
environments. Cat 6a defends against alien
crosstalk, which is crosstalk between
cables in a crowded installation. The “a”
in Cat 6a stands for “augmented”.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN BITS AND BYTES?
Network speeds are typically calculated
in Bits, while files are calculated
in Bytes. A Byte is 8 Bits.
WHY ARE NETWORKING
CABLES TWISTED?
The twists in a cable are meant to defend
against crosstalk on the line. The physics
of this phenomenon are complex, but the
twists prevent the signal running on one
twisted pair in the cable from jumping to
another twisted pair, causing interference.