What are the categories of unshielded twisted pair?

Answer 1

{| ! Category ! Maximum data rate ! Usual application | CAT 1 (de facto name, never a standard)

Up to 1 Mbps (1 MHz) analog voice (POTS)

Basic Rate Interface in ISDN

Doorbell wiring CAT 2 (de facto name, never a standard) 4 Mbps Mainly used in the IBM cabling system for Token Ring networks CAT 3 16 Mbps Voice (analog most popular implementation)

10BASE-T Ethernet. CAT 4 20 Mbps Used in 16 Mbps Token Ring.

Otherwise not used much. Was only a standard briefly and never widely installed.

CAT 5 100 MHz 100 Mbps TPDDI

155 Mbps ATM.

No longer supported; replaced by 5E.

10/100BASE-T

4/16MBps Token Ring

Analog Voice CAT 5E 100 MHz 100 Mbps TPDDI

155 Mbps ATM

Gigabit Ethernet.

Offers better near-end crosstalk than CAT 5 CAT 6 Up to 250 MHz Minimum cabling for data centers in TIA-942.

Quickly replacing category 5e.

CAT 6E Up to 500 MHz

(field-tested to 500 MHz) Support for 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GBASE-T.) May be either shielded (STP, ScTP, S/FTP) or unshielded (UTP). This standard published in Feb. 2008.

Minimum for Data Centers in ISO data center standard. CAT 7

(ISO Class F) 600 MHz

1.2 GHz in pairs with Siemon connector Full-motion video

Teleradiology

Government and manufacturing environments

Fully Shielded (S/FTP) system using non-RJ45 connectors but backwards compatible with hybrid cords.

Until February 2008, the only standard (published in 2002) to support 10GBASE-T for a full 100m. or go to http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid80_gci211752,00.html |}