
It transmits through the Orange wires and receives data through the Green pair. In addition to having the wires in a different pinout configuration, the T568B style cable reverses the transmission and receiving pairs. In the T568A standard, the Orange and White/Orange pair of wires is used to receive data with the Green and White/Green pairs used to transmit. The Orange and Green pairs of wires are used in both the T568A and T568B standards, but for different purposes. An ethernet cable wiring diagram will show that only two of these pairs are actively used in the transmission of data. There are four twisted pairs of wires inside every Ethernet cable. They are hard to bend but achieve data transfer speeds of 10,000 Mbps over bandwidths of 600 MHz. They are more heavily insulated and are thicker and bulkier that Cat6e cables. Its top speed is 1000Mbps.Ĭat6a - Augmented Category 6 cable increases transmission speed to 10,000 Mbps and doubles the maximum bandwidth to 500 MHz.Ĭat7 - Category 7, also known as Class F cables are comprised of screened, shielded twisted pairs (SSTP) of wires. Cat6 cable is available in both UTP and STP (shielded twisted pairs) form and is more expensive than Cat5e. Both kinds can handle Gigabit speeds, but Cat6 is better suited to environments where more electromagnetic interference may be present. It is also a UTP cable and can reach transmission speeds of 1000 Mbps.Ĭat6 - Category 6 cables increase the transmission performance of the Cat5e variety. It is made of unshielded twisted pairs (UTP) of wires and has maximum data transmission speeds of 10/100 Mbps.Ĭat5e - This is an enhanced version of the Cat5 cable that offers better speed and protection from electrical interference. It is the most used type of cable and until the arrival of Cat5e was considered the most efficient and reliable option available. Let’s take a closer look at what distinguishes the different kinds of Ethernet cables.Ĭat5 - Standing for Category 5, the Cat5 follows its predecessors Cat3 and Cat4 cables. The most commonly used cables are of type Cat5 and Cat5e. They are Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a, and Cat7. There are 5 different types of Ethernet cables available on the market today. The solid cables are more useful for use in fixed locations with the stranded cables better at flexible desktop use. There are two main categories of Ethernet cables - braided stranded cables and solid cables. Those inventions, which have become indispensable in the modern age, would have been impossible without the network connectivity made possible by Ethernet cables. Without Ethernet cables, the World Wide Web and the Internet as we know it could not exist.
