Coaxial: Two conductors separated by insulation

Fiber-optic: Data is transmitted using light rather than electrons. Usually there are two fibers, one for each
direction.

Ethernet cables are determined and distinguished by their quality. By quality it means, the amount of
transmission load the cable can handle. Following are some Ethernet cable types:

Normal Ethernet Cables

A normal Ethernet cable is a straight-through cable, where the smaller cables inside the Ethernet cable on
both ends will be in the same order of colors, from left to right. There are two standards in which the colors
of the cables are arranged, they are; T-568A and T-568B. The variation in their color order is not an
indication of their performance, but just their standard. This type of cable is used to connect the computer
to a hub or router to a switch.

Twisted pair: Wire twisted to avoid crosstalk interference. It may be shielded or unshielded. There are two
types of twisted pairs – shielded and unshielded twisted pair.

Ethernet Cable Categories (Cat)

Cat-1: This is not recognized by the TIA/EIA. It is the form of wiring that is used for standard telephone
(POTS) wiring, or for ISDN.

Cat-2: This is not recognized by the TIA/EIA. It was the form of wiring that was used for 4Mbit/s token
ring networks.

Cat 3 - It is an unshielded twisted pair (UTP) that can carry up to 10 Mbit/s with a bandwidth performance
of 16 MHz. It is not widely used outside of Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and other types of
voice applications. In addition, Cat 3 cable has a problem of cross-talk and interference

Cat 4 - Cat 4 was mainly used in token ring networks and the cable consists of four unshielded twisted-pair
(UTP) wires, with a data rate of 16 Mbit/s, and performance of up to 20 MHz

Cat 5 - This is a twisted pair high signal integrity cable, that has three twists per inch of each twisted pair of
24 gouge copper wires within the cables. Cat 5 is used for 10/100Mb Ethernet and as a voice cabling
format.

Cat 5e - This category is an enhanced version of Cat 5, that prevents interference between one unshielded
twisted pair to another twisted pair running in parallel within the same cable (Far End Crosstalk – FEXT).
It works for 10/100Mb and 1000Mb Ethernet connections that will be perfect to support Internet
connections at home and business applications. This is also the most common type of Ethernet cable
on the market 

Cat 6 - It is very similar to Cat 5e and is a cable standard for Gigabyte Ethernet (considered better than Cat
5e) and other network protocols that are backward compatible with the Cat 5/5e and Cat 3 cable standards.
Cat 6 is made up of larger gouge wires, that work for 10/100/1000Mb Ethernet.

Cat 7 - This cable type is a standard for Ethernet and other interconnect technologies that are backward
compatible with traditional Cat 5 and Cat 6 Ethernet cables. As it has more strict specifications for
crosstalk and system noise than Cat 6 and Cat 5e, its cables and the wires within are completely shielded.
The cable contains four twisted copper wire pairs and supports up to 600Mhz.
Widely used cables are cat-5, cat-5e, cat6

Ethernet Crossover Cable

An Ethernet crossover cable is a type of Ethernet cable, that is used to connect computing devices together,
without the use of a hub or switch. These cables have different pin points or plugs on each side. The wires
within the Ethernet crossover cable can reverse the transmit and receive signals. Starting from the left, the
1st and 3rd wires and the 2nd and 6th wires are crossed, and can be seen through the RJ-45 connectors at
each end of the crossover cable.

Ethernet cable types should be determined by your requirement, as there are many types and categories
easily available all across the country. Ethernet cables are faster and take less processing from the CPU and
other computer networking devices, which can save a lot of time during the transmission of data. A
summary of Ethernet cables and their maximum operating lengths is given below:

Specificatio Cable type Maximu

n m length

10BaseT Unshielded 100

Twisted Pair meters

10Base2 Thin coaxial 180

cable meters

10Base5 Thick coaxial 500

cable meters

10BaseF Fibre optic 2000

cable meters

100BaseT Unshielded 100

 twisted pair meters

100BaseTX Unshielded 220

twisted pair meters