Cat Cable Key Terms
Understand the key terms related to cat cables to make smarter business choices
Cat cables (abbreviation for category cables) are twisted copper wires that are extremely useful for high-speed transmissions of data. These cables come in four major categories, such as Cat-5 cables, Cat-5e cables, Cat-6 cables and Cat-7 cables.If you want to be a distributor of Cat cables, you will need to understand various technical terms related to their standards, types and specifications. In this guide, we will cover the key terms related to Cat cables, such as EIA/TIA 568 Standard, stranded wire, AWG and Cat-6 cables.
EIA/TIA (Electronics Industries Alliance/Telecommunications Industry Association) 568 standard
Stranded wires (also known as twisted pairs)
A stranded wire contains a bunch of small wires that are bundled together. This type of wire is used in applications that require flexibility. A stranded wire is mainly used in stranded Cat-6 cables.AWG (American Wire Gauge)
AWG (also known as B&S or Brown & Sharpe wire gauge) is the standard of measurement for the diameter of the copper, aluminum or other non-ferrous wires.Metric wire gauge
In a metric wire gauge scale, the gauge is 10 times the diameter in millimeters. Thus, a 50-gauge metric wire would have a diameter of 5 mm.Resistance
Resistance is the ability of a wire to oppose the flow of current. The unit of measure for resistance is the ohm.Cable testers
A cable tester is a tool used to diagnose different problems and test the speed of transmission of various Cat cables and the network itself.Cat-5 cables
A Cat-5 cable is a type of Ethernet cable. It is made of four pairs of copper wire and has four pins on each end. This type of cable supports computer network speeds up to 100 Mbps.Cat-6 cables
Like the Cat-5 cable, a Cat-6 cable also uses four pairs of copper wire. But a Cat-6 uses all the four wires to get a speed of almost 1 Gbps, which is twice the speed of a Cat-5 cable.Copyright © 2013 Business.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Trusted Vendors
