- CAT5 is an Ethernet network cable standard defined by the Electronic Industries Association and Telecommunications Industry Association (commonly known as EIA/TIA).
- CAT5 cables use the fifth generation of twisted pair Ethernet technology and, since their inception in the 1990s, became the most popular of all twisted pair cable types.
Types:
- Solid CAT 5 cable: Solid CAT5 cable supports longer length runs and works best in fixed wiring configurations like office buildings.
- Stranded CAT 5 cable: It is more pliable and better suited for shorter-distance, movable cabling such as on-the-fly patch cables.
Working:
- CAT 5 cable runs are limited to a maximum recommended run length of 100 meters.
- CAT 5 cables usually contains four pairs of copper wire, fast Ethernet communication only utilize two pairs.
- The EIA/TIA published a newer CAT 5 cable specification in 2001 called CAT 5e.
- It is designed to better support Gigabit Ethernet speed upto 1000Mbps, by utilizing all four wire pairs.
- CAT 5 cables are capable of supporting Gigabit speed at shorter distances.
- It has a higher risk of signal interference than increases with distance.
Applications:
- It is used in structured cabling for computer network such as Ethernet over twisted pair.
- CAT 5 is also used to carry other signal as telephony and video.
Advantages:
- Cost is less compare to other cables.
- Easy to install.
- It transfers 4 signals at a time.
Disadvantages:
- CAT 5 network cables are prone to electrical and radio interference.
- CAT 5 network cable is not designed to transfer data over short distances.
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