cable categories

cable categories

Following are the categories for telephone and network cables, which are typically abbreviated "Cat." For HDMI video cables, see HDMI cable types.

Cat 1 and Cat 2 are unofficial voice grade standards, while Cat 3 to 7 are based on the EIA/TIA-568-B standards. Most wiring for local networks that support Gigabit Ethernet is Cat 5e, an improved version of Cat 5. Cat 8 is for short distances in datacenters. See twisted pair.

Cat  Type of      Bandwidth    Data#    Cable         (MHz)      Rate

  1   UTP             1 MHz    Analog
  2   UTP             4 MHz    4 Mbps

  3   UTP/ScTP/STP   16 MHz    4 Mbps
  4   UTP/ScTP/STP   20 MHz   16 Mbps

  5   UTP/ScTP/STP  100 MHz    1 Gbps
  5e  UTP/ScTP/STP  100 MHz    1 Gbps
  6   UTP/ScTP/STP  250 MHz   10 Gbps
  6a  UTP/ScTP/STP  500 MHz   10 Gbps
  7   ScTP/STP      600 MHz   10 Gbps
  7a  ScTP/STP     1000 MHz   10 Gbps
  8   ScTP/STP     2000 MHz   40-100 Gbps