With over 100 years combined experience, our engineers at Networx3 have been providing Cat5 cable installation projects across a wide range of industries.

What is Cat5 Cabling

Put simply, Cat 5 cable is a computer network cable consisting of four twisted pairs of copper wire. It is also referred to as Ethernet cable, or LAN cable.

As the most widely implemented solution for LANs (Local Area Networks), Cat5 wiring has been delivering cost effective stability since 1985.

Why do I see Cat5 sometimes described as Cat5e?

Since 2001 you are more likely to see Cat5e being offered instead of Cat5 with the ‘e’ standing for enhanced. Improvements of Cat5e include:

• Capability to handle Gigabit networks – Cat5 is rated for 100Mbps, Cat5e 1000Mbps
• Reduced crosstalk (NEXT & FEXT) – noise on the line

Common Cat5 Ethernet Installation Pitfalls

Due to the commonality of these cables are in both our home and working lives, often little time is spent by some companies planning a Cat5 network setup. We see the design and planning stage as being vital and always spend time planning any cable install.

The lack of planning creates a number of problems which can be costly to resolve.

Damage to Cat5 Cables: Overbending or stretching Ethernet cables can damage them resulting in reduced performance and data transfer. Another common cause of damage is creating a ‘kink’ in the line when wrapping them around corners

Access to the Cat5 Cabling: Which spaces will require a connection and how many is an important question. This might seem obvious at first glance but what about future requirements? Will workstations or furniture move making access harder? Will the room have multiple functions requiring a number of different access points? If so, how will unused access points be hidden?

Cat5 Pathing: This is probably the most difficult consideration. How do you keep things looking tidy whilst considering cable length? The max cable length varies but will likely be no more than 100 meters. This can create real challenges in larger spaces and may require additional equipment to boost signal strength.

With all of these issues the solution is properly planning your Cat5 cable installation before trying to tackle the job.

Cat6 is available, why would I use Cat5?

The simple answer is, it comes down to your requirements. Cat6 is considered an improvement on Cat5 wiring but it comes at a higher cost too. It is important to establish your setup and needs as the cheaper Cat5 may provide all the capability you require with wasted capability resulting in wasted money.

Compared to Cat6, Cat5 is:

• Cheaper. Cost for any business is important, and over larger projects the price difference could be significant.
• Smaller. Typically, a business will want to hide wires for health & safety reasons but also for aesthetics too. A smaller wire makes this easier, especially when multiple wires from different workstations join together and travel to the same location.
  
  

Unsure if you need Cat5, Cat6 or Fibre?

Understanding the difference between Cat5, Cat6 and Fibre, and how they best suit your specific requirements can only be established by speaking to us at Networx3 during the planning phase of a project.