The category 5e cable has long been the leading standard for structural cabling and is used to carry signals in computer networking standards such as Ethernet cables as well as telephone and video. Category 5e is a twisted pair cable (a type of wiring where 2 conductors are twisted together to cancel out electromagnetic interference from external sources), which has its roots in the similar category 5 cable (it's generally understood that the 'e' stands for 'enhanced'). Category 5e cables are unshielded, but thanks to the twisted pair cabling this is rarely an issue.
A basic category 5e cable will be constructed from 4 twisted pairs. These pairs will all have a different number of twists per metre to avoid interference. Though a standard Ethernet patch cable might have only 4 pairs, some cables can support as many as 100, though this would not be a necessity for commercial applications. A category 5e cable is designed to work with a 1000BASE-T network card but it is backwards compatible with older models. The specifics of how network cards relate to the cat 5e will be discussed in detail later.
There are 2 distinct types of category 5e cable, namely the 'stranded' and the 'solid conductor'. The stranded is the most common as it is more flexible and therefore more suitable for short distances, this means it's used in standard Ethernet patch cables. Solid conductor cables however use larger gauge wires and are therefore much less flexible. It has a better electrical performance than stranded cable however, which means it can run far longer. Solid conductor cables are generally used in situations where cabling needs to be run inside walls or through ceilings.
An important factor to understand with cabling, is the difference between 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T and 1000BASE-T network cards. These are numbers that might sound confusing but the reasoning behind them is simple enough. 10BASE cards can only handle up to 10 Mbps, 100BASE cards can handle up to 100 Mbps and 1000BASE cards can carry up to 1000 Mbps (or a gigabit) though commercial broadband in this country has yet to reach these speeds.
Although there are newer technologies now available like category 6 and category 7 cables, these technologies are still far too expensive for the commercial market and so category 5e remains the most popular choice for most wired local area networks due to it's affordable price and the fact that it supports the highest possible broadband speed currently commercially available in the U.K.
A basic category 5e cable will be constructed from 4 twisted pairs. These pairs will all have a different number of twists per metre to avoid interference. Though a standard Ethernet patch cable might have only 4 pairs, some cables can support as many as 100, though this would not be a necessity for commercial applications. A category 5e cable is designed to work with a 1000BASE-T network card but it is backwards compatible with older models. The specifics of how network cards relate to the cat 5e will be discussed in detail later.
There are 2 distinct types of category 5e cable, namely the 'stranded' and the 'solid conductor'. The stranded is the most common as it is more flexible and therefore more suitable for short distances, this means it's used in standard Ethernet patch cables. Solid conductor cables however use larger gauge wires and are therefore much less flexible. It has a better electrical performance than stranded cable however, which means it can run far longer. Solid conductor cables are generally used in situations where cabling needs to be run inside walls or through ceilings.
An important factor to understand with cabling, is the difference between 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T and 1000BASE-T network cards. These are numbers that might sound confusing but the reasoning behind them is simple enough. 10BASE cards can only handle up to 10 Mbps, 100BASE cards can handle up to 100 Mbps and 1000BASE cards can carry up to 1000 Mbps (or a gigabit) though commercial broadband in this country has yet to reach these speeds.
Although there are newer technologies now available like category 6 and category 7 cables, these technologies are still far too expensive for the commercial market and so category 5e remains the most popular choice for most wired local area networks due to it's affordable price and the fact that it supports the highest possible broadband speed currently commercially available in the U.K.
