Cabling

Cat 5 cable started life as Cat 3 but as Cat 3 operates at relatively low frequencies of up to 10Mhz it was quickly replaced by Cat 4 and then Cat 5 which is able to operate at up to 100Mhz. Cat 5 Cable is now the cabling standard throughout the World.

Category 5e (Cat 5e Cable)

Same as Category 5, except that it is made to somewhat more stringent standards. Category 5e is recommended for all new installations, and was designed for transmission speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gigabit Ethernet). If Cat 5e is used in error you are guaranteed Cat 5 performance.

Category 6 (Cat 6 Cable)

Same as Category 5 E, except that it is made to a higher standard and operates at up to 250Mhz.

Category 7 (Cat 7 Cable)

Same as Category 6, except that it is made to a higher standard . One major difference with category 7's construction (as compared with category 5, 5 E, and 6) is that all 4 pairs are individually shielded, and an overall shield enwraps all four pairs. Category 7 will use an entirely new connector (other than the familiar RJ-45). Cat 7 has a maximum operating frequency of 750Mhz.

Category 5 Cable (SCTP) (Screened Twisted Pair)

Same as above, except that the twisted pairs are given additional protection from unwanted interference by an overall shield.

Category 5, RJ45 jack (Work Area Outlet)

An 8 conductor, compact, modular, female jack that is used to terminate category-5 cable at the user (or other) location. The jack is specifically engineered to maintain the performance of cat 5 cabling.

Category 5 Patch Panel

A Category 5 Patch Panel is basically just a series of many category-5 jacks, condensed onto a single panel. Common panel configurations are 12, 24, 48, and 96 ports. Patch panels are typically used where all of the horizontal cable sections meet, and are used to connect the segments to the Network Hub.

The photo to the right shows a typical category-5 patch panel with patch cables connecting each network segment to a port on the Hub.