Category 1 cable

Category 1 cable (Cat 1) a.k.a. voice-grade copper is a misnomer, probably adopted by those
who assumed that TIA set up "Categories" for all types of cables originally defined by Anixter, the
distributor, under the grades called "Levels." TIA-568 only recognized cables of Category 3 ratings
or above. Anixter "Level 1" was a grade of unshielded twisted pair cabling designed for telephone
communications, and was the most common on-premises wiring.

Unshielded and shielded twisted pair cabling standards

Cat 1: Currently unrecognized by TIA/EIA. Previously used for POTS telephone

communications, ISDN and doorbell wiring.
Cat 2: Currently unrecognized by TIA/EIA. Previously was frequently used on 4 Mbit/s
token ring networks.
Cat 3: Currently defined in TIA/EIA-568-B, used for data networks using frequencies up to
16 MHz. Historically popular for 10 Mbit/s Ethernet networks.
Cat 4: Currently unrecognized by TIA/EIA. Provided performance of up to 20 MHz, and was
frequently used on 16 Mbit/s token ring networks.
Cat 5: Currently unrecognized by TIA/EIA. Provided performance of up to 100 MHz, and
was frequently used on 100 Mbit/s Ethernet networks. May be unsuitable for 1000BASE-T
gigabit ethernet.
Cat 5e: Currently defined in TIA/EIA-568-B. Provides performance of up to 100 MHz, and
is frequently used for both 100 Mbit/s and Gigabit Ethernet networks.
Cat 6: Currently defined in TIA/EIA-568-B. Provides performance of up to 250 MHz, more
than double category 5 and 5e.
Cat 6a: Currently defined in ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-10. Provides performance of up to 500
MHz, double that of category 6. Suitable for 10GBase-T.
Cat 7: An informal name applied to ISO/IEC 11801 Class F cabling. This standard specifies
four individually-shielded pairs (STP) inside an overall shield. Designed for transmission at
frequencies up to 600 MHz.

Category 2 cable
Category 2 cable, or simply Cat 2, is a misnomer, probably adopted by those who assumed that
TIA set up "Categories" for all types of cables originally defined by Anixter, the distributor, under the
grades called "Levels." TIA-568 only recognized cables of Category 3 ratings or above. Anixter
"Level 2" was a grade of UTP cable capable of transmitting data at up to 4 Mbit/s. Cat 2 cable was
frequently used on ARCnet and 4 Mbit/s token ring networks, but it is no longer commonly used.

Category 3 cable
Category 3 cable, commonly known as Cat 3, is an unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable designed
to reliably carry data up to 10 Mbit/s, with a possible bandwidth of 16 MHz. It is part of a family of
copper cabling standards defined jointly by the Electronic Industries Alliance and the
Telecommunications Industry Association.
Category 3 was a popular cabling format among computer network administrators in the early
1990s, but fell out of popularity in favor of the very similar, but higher performing, Cat 5 standard.
Presently, most new structured cable installations are built with Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable. Cat 3 is
currently still in use in two-line telephone systems, and can easily be adapted to run VoIP (as long
as a dedicated LAN for theVoIP telephone sets is created). While Cat 5 or higher is often

recommended for VoIP, the reality is that the 10 Mbit/s bandwidth a cat 3 network can provide is
far more than the 0.08 Mbit/s a VoIP phone needs at full load, and Cat 3 is even compatible with
802.3af PoE.
Note that unlike Cat 1, 2, 4, and 5 cables, Cat 3 is still recognized by TIA/EIA-568-B, its defining
standard.
The seldom used 100BASE-T4 standard, which achieves speeds of 100 Mbit/s by using all 4 pairs
of wires, allowed older Cat 3 based infrastructures to achieve a much higher bandwidth.

Category 4 cable
Category 4 is a description of a cable that consists of four unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) wires with
a data rate of 16 Mbit/s and performance of up to 20 MHz. It was used in token ring networks,
10BASE-T, 100BASE-T4, and is no longer common or used in new installations. It was quickly
superseded by Category 5/5e cable, both of which have 10015 ohm impedance.

Category 5 cable
Category 5 cable, commonly known as Cat 5, is a twisted pair
(4 pairs) cable type designed for high signal integrity. Many
such cables are unshielded but some are shielded. Category 5
has been superseded by the Category 5e specification. This
type of cable is often used in structured cabling for computer
networks such as Ethernet, and is also used to carry many
other signals such as basic voice services, token ring, and ATM
(at up to 155 Mbit/s, over short distances).
Category 5 patch cable in
TIA/EIA-568-B wiring

Contents
1 Usage and wiring methods
o 1.1 Category 5
o 1.2 Category 5e
o 1.3 Connectors and other information
2 Electrical characteristics for Cat.5e UTP
3 References
4 See also

5 Further reading

Usage and wiring methods

Category 5
The specification for category 5 cable was defined in
ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A, with clarification in TSB-95. These
documents specified performance characteristics and
test requirements for frequencies of up to 100 MHz.
Category 5 cable includes four twisted pairs in a single
cable jacket. This use of balanced lines helps preserve
a high signal-to-noise ratio despite interference from
both external sources and other pairs (this latter form of
interference is called crosstalk). It is most commonly
used for 100 Mbit/s networks, such as 100BASE-TX
Ethernet, although IEEE 802.3ab defines standards for
1000BASE-T - Gigabit Ethernet over category 5 cable.
Cat 5 cable typically has three twists per inch of each
twisted pair of 24 gauge copper wires within the cables.

Category 5e

8P8C modular plug pin positioning

TIA/EIA-568-A.1-2001 T568A Wiring

Cat 5 e cable is an enhanced version of Cat 5 that adds

specifications for far end crosstalk. It was formally
defined in 2001 as the TIA/EIA-568-B standard, which
no longer recognizes the original Cat 5 specification.
Although 1000BASE-T was designed for use with Cat 5
cable, the tighter specifications associated with Cat 5e
cable and connectors make it an excellent choice for
use with 1000BASE-T. Despite the stricter performance
specifications, Cat 5e cable does not enable longer
cable distances for Ethernet networks: cables are still
limited to a maximum of 100 m (328 ft) in length (normal
practice is to limit fixed ("horizontal") cables to 90 m to
allow for up to 5 m of patch cable at each end). Cat 5e
cable performance characteristics and test methods are
defined in TIA/EIA-568-B.2-2001.

Pin Pair Wire

1 3
1

Color

green

white/orange

blue

white/blue

orange

white/brown

brown

Connectors and other information

orange

white/green

blue

white/blue

green

white/brown

brown

The cable exists in both stranded and solid conductor

forms. The stranded form is more flexible and
withstands more bending without breaking and is suited
for reliable connections with insulation piercing
connectors, but makes unreliable connections in
insulation-displacement connectors. The solid form is
less expensive and makes reliable connections into
insulation displacement connectors, but makes
unreliable connections in insulation piercing connectors.
Taking these things into account, building wiring (for
example, the wiring inside the wall that connects a wall
socket to a central patch panel) is solid core, while
patch cables (for example, the movable cable that plugs
into the wall socket on one end and a computer on the
other) are stranded. Outer insulation is typically PVC or
LSOH.

white/green

TIA/EIA-568-B.1-2001 T568B Wiring

Pin Pair Wire
Color
1 2
1
white/orange

Cable types, connector types and cabling topologies are

defined by TIA/EIA-568-B. Nearly always, 8P8C
modular connectors, often incorrectly referred to as "RJ45", are used for connecting category 5 cable. The
specific category of cable in use can be identified by the
printing on the side of the cable.[1]
The cable is terminated in either the T568A scheme or
the T568B scheme. It doesn't make any difference
which is used as they are both straight through (pin 1 to
1, pin 2 to 2, etc); however mixed cable types should
not be connected in series as the impedance per pair
differs slightly and could cause signal degradation. The
article Ethernet over twisted pair describes how the
cable is used for Ethernet, including special "cross over"
cables.

Electrical characteristics for Cat.5e UTP

Property
Characteristic impedance @
100 MHz
Nominal characteristic
impedance @ 100 MHz
DC-Loop resistance
Velocity ratio
Propagation delay
Delay skew
Capacitance
Max tensile load, during
installation

Nominal
Value

Tolerance

Unit

100

15

Ohm

100

Ohm

188
0.64
4.80-5.30
<0.20
52

Ohm/km
c
ns/m
ns/m
pF/m

100

Image of partially stripped

cable showing the twisted
pairs.

Image of a Cat 5E Wall

outlet showing the two wiring
schemes: A for T568A, B for
T568B.

Category 6 cable
Category 6 cable, commonly referred to as Cat-6, is a cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet and
other network protocols that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable
standards. Cat-6 features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise. The cable

standard provides performance of up to 250 MHz and is suitable for 10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX and
1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet). It is expected to suit the 10GBASE-T (10Gigabit Ethernet)
standard, although with limitations on length if unshielded Cat 6 cable is used. Category 6 cable
can be identified by the printing on the side of the cable sheath.[1]
The cable contains four twisted copper wire pairs, just like earlier copper cable standards. Although
Cat-6 is sometimes made with 23 gauge wire, this is not a requirement; the ANSI/TIA-568-B.2-1
specification states the cable may be made with 22 to 24 AWG gauge wire, so long as the cable
meets the specified testing standards. When used as a patch cable, Cat-6 is normally terminated in
8P8C modular connectors, often incorrectly referred to as "RJ-45" electrical connectors. Cat-6
connectors are made to higher standards that help reduce noise caused by crosstalk and system
noise. Attenuation, NEXT (Near End Crosstalk), and PSNEXT (Power Sum NEXT) are all
significantly lower when compared to Cat-5/5e.
Some Cat-6 cables are too large and may be difficult to attach to 8P8C connectors without a
special modular piece and are technically not standard compliant. If components of the various
cable standards are intermixed, the performance of the signal path will be limited to that of the
lowest category. As with all cables defined by ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B, the maximum allowed length of
a Cat-6 horizontal cable is 100 meters (330 ft) in length, depending upon the ratio of cord
length:horizontal cable length.
The cable is terminated in either the T568A scheme or the T568B scheme. It doesn't make any
difference which is used, as they are both straight through (pin 1 to 1, pin 2 to 2, etc). Mixing
T568A-terminated patch cords with T568B-terminated horizontal cables (or the reverse) does not
produce pinout problems in a facility. Although it may very slightly degrade signal quality, this effect
is marginal and certainly no greater than that produced by mixing cable brands in-channel. The
T568B Scheme is by far the most widely used method of terminating patch cables.
Crossover is used for hub to hub, computer to computer, wherever two-way communication is
necessary. All gigabit ethernet equipment, and most new 10/100Mb equipment, supports automatic
crossover, meaning that either a straight-through or crossover cable may be used for any
connection. However, older equipment requires the use of a straight-through cable to connect a
switch to a client device, and a crossover cable to connect a switch to a switch or a client to a
client. Crossover cables can be constructed by wiring one end to the T568A scheme and the other
end with the T568B scheme. This will ensure that the Transmit (TX) pins on both ends are wired
through to the Receive (RX) pins on the other end.

8P8C Wiring (TIA/EIA-568-A T568A)

Pin

Pair

Wire

Color

white/green

8P8C Wiring (TIA/EIA-568-B T568B)

Pin

Pair

Wire

Color

white/orange

green

orange

white/orange

white/green

blue

blue

white/blue

white/blue

orange

green

white/brown

white/brown

brown

brown

Category 6a
The latest standard from the TIA for enhanced performance standards for twisted pair cable
systems was defined in February 2008 in ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-10. Category 6a (or Augmented
Category 6) operates at frequencies up to 550 MHztwice that of Cat 6.
It can support 10 Gbit/s applications (especially 10GBaseT) up to a maximum distance of 100
meters.

Category 7 cable
Category 7 cable
Category 7 cable (CAT7), (ISO/IEC 11801:2002 category 7/class
F), is a cable standard for Ethernet and other interconnect
technologies that can be made to be backwards compatible with
traditional CAT5 and CAT6 Ethernet cable. CAT7 features even
more strict specifications for crosstalk and system noise than
CAT6. To achieve this, shielding has been added for individual wire
pairs and the cable as a whole.
The CAT7 cable standard has been created to allow 10 gigabit
Ethernet over 100 m of copper cabling (also, 10-Gbit/s Ethernet
now is typically run on Cat6A). The cable contains four twisted
copper wire pairs, just like the earlier standards. CAT7 can be
terminated either with RJ-45 compatible GG45 electrical
connectors which incorporate the RJ-45 standard or with TERA
connectors. When combined with GG-45 or TERA connectors,
CAT7 cable is rated for transmission frequencies of up to 600 MHz.
Researchers in November 2007 proved that it is "definitely
possible" to transport 100 gigabits per second over 70 meters of
CAT7 cable and they are now working on extending it to 100 m.[1]
This technology may be available in early 2013