UTP Cables
 Unshielded
Twisted Pair UTP cables are designed to be cost-effective, flexible
cabling for most general applications.
They do not offer foil protection like Shielded
Twisted-Pair (STP) Cables, but retain the pairs of twisted data
cables surrounded by a plastic sheath.
UTP cables contain four twisted-pairs, enclosed
in a common sheath. 10Base-T, 100Base-TX and 100Base-T2 only use
two of the four pairs, while 100Base-T4 and 1000Base-T require all
four pairs.
For networking applications, UTP cabling normally
refers to 100 ohm Category 3, 4 and 5 specifications laid out in
the IBM Cabling Standard (shown below). Category 5e, 6 and 7 have
also been proposed to support higher data rates, such as the STP
300MHz standards. The terms "cat5" and "cat5e"
refer to their Category specification equivelants.
The following table lists all the types of UTP
cabling laid out by the IBM Cabling Standard.
| Cat1
& Cat2 |
Not
suitable for Ethernet data network use |
| Cat3 |
Unshielded
twisted pair, supporting transmission up to 16MHz.
Suitable for 10Base-T, 100Base-T4 and 100Base-T2. |
| Cat4 |
Unshielded
twisted pair, supporting transmission up to 20MHz. Provides
more reliable data transport over Cat3.
Suitable for 10Base-T, 100Base-T4 and 100Base-T2. |
| Cat5 |
Unshielded
twisted pair, supporting transmission up to 100MHz -
this is the most common form of UTP cabling, but should
be tested for 100Base-T performance.
Suitable for 10Base-T, 100Base-T4, 100Base-T2 and
100Base-TX. |
| Cat5e |
"Enhanced
Cat5" or cat5e - unshielded twisted pair supporting
transmission up to 100MHz. Has improved attenuation
while sharing similar electrical characteristics to
Cat5.
Supports 1000Base-T, 10Base-T, 100Base-T4, 100Base-T2,
100Base-TX, Near End Cross Talk (NEXT) and Power Sum Equal
Level Far End Cross Talk (PSELFEXT). |
| Cat6 |
Proposed
standard for unshielded twisted pair, supporting transmission
up to 250MHz. |
| Cat7 |
Proposed
standard for unshielded twisted pair, supporting transmission
up to 600MHz. |
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