Cat5e ethernet cables have been widely used for residential, gaming, and small business installations. The cable comes with decent data transfer rates and bandwidth capacities. Whether it is Cat5e Plenum Bare Copper cable or Cat5e Riser Cable, it provides optimum performance and connectivity results.
Following are the types of Cat5e cables:
Cat5e Plenum Cable
Cat5e Plenum Bare Copper cable — also known as Cat5e solid copper cable — is used for installation in the plenum spaces of the buildings. If you don’t know what plenum spaces are, let us tell you. These are the separate spaces in the building used for air circulation for heating, air condition, and ventilation. Plenum spaces are very important spaces as if approached without caution, they can become the cause of a disaster. It is because of this very reason, you are only authorized to use CMP-rated aka plenum-rated cables in plenum spaces. The CMP stands for Communication Multi-purpose Cable, Plenum.
The jacket of CMP-rated ethernet cable is made up of extremely good polyvinyl chloride. When exposed to blaze, these jackets halt fire progression as they are fire retardant. Also, during the burning phase, CMP-rated cables emit very low smoke and no dangerous gases. You can use plenum-rated cables in riser spaces too.
Cat5e Riser Cable
The name itself explains the usage of the cable. A Cat5e Riser Cable is used for installation in the vertical spaces of the buildings. The jacket of this type of cable is riser-rated. It is also made up of good quality polyvinyl chloride but the material is not as fine as is used in CMP-rated ethernet cables.
Cat5e PVC Cable
A Cat5e PVC Cable is used for installation in outdoor environments; its jacket is PVC rated and provides excellent protection against outdoor environments.
Shielded & Unshielded Cable
The Cat5e cable bearing STP mark is a shielded twisted pair cable. It means the cable comes with an extra layer of protection in the form copper braid jacket or foil wrapping around the four twisted pairs. This extra layer of protection curbs crosstalks and EMI, thus making signal quality stronger in harsh environments.
A cable bearing UTP mark is an unshielded twisted pair cable. The cable is ideal for insulation in environments where crosstalk and EMI are little or non-existent.
Pure Copper & CCA
The most important thing in an ethernet cable is its conductors as they are the medium through which signal enters and passes and all transmission occurs. The conductors are either made from pure copper or copper-clad aluminum. As far as performance is concerned, pure copper conductors surpass CCA conductors in every metric. The price of the pure copper conductor is much higher than the price of the CCA conductor ethernet cable.
Specifications of Cat5e Ethernet Cable
As stated earlier, the cable displays a data transfer speed of 1Gbps over a distance of 328 feet or 100 meters. Though the TIA/EIA standards for bandwidth capacities are 100MHz, some manufacturers provide bandwidth capabilities of 350MHz.
The cable provides excellent protection against crosstalk and EMI due to its thick coating material. It can function smoothly in temperatures as low as -25 degrees and as high as 120 degrees. It runs between 22AWG to 26AWG. It meets the following industry standards:
- RoHS,
- FCC,
- CE,
- CSA,
- ISO/IES
As it is a bulk product, it comes in an easy pull box and can be installed in temperatures ranging from 0 degrees to 60 degrees. The cable has a fire-retardant coating and it is UV resistant. The cable supports all existing applications.
