Twisted pair cable
Twisted pair cable is a cable in which pairs of wires are twisted around each other to minimize interference from other twisted pairs. Twisted pair cable can be shielded or unshielded (most common). Twisted pair cables are generally not costly and it’s easy to install.
Twisted pair cables are rated by different category. In twisted pair cable highest category is category 7 cable while lowest category is category 1 cable.
Here is a short description of each category of twisted pair cable and there common uses.
Category 1 Twisted pair cable: àCategory 1 twisted pair cable is 2 pairs cable, it’s a voice grade cable and use for telecoms but not for data.
Category 2 Twisted pair cable:à Category 2 twisted pair cable is 2 pair cable, data can be transfer on this with maximum of 4Mbps speed but now a day’s it’s not recognized and no one use it.
Category 3 Twisted pair cable:à Category 3 twisted pair cable is 4 pair cable on which data can be transfer with maximum of 10Mbps. Category 3 cable is used for 10BASE-T network and for voice communication.
Category 4 Twisted pair cable:à Category 4 twisted pair cable is 4pairs cable in which data can be transfer with maximum of 16mbps speed. This cable is used for IBM token ring network.
Category 5 Twisted pair cable: àCategory 5 twisted pair cable is 4 pairs cable in which data can be transfer with 100Mbps+ speed. It use for 100BASE-x and Ethernet network. Presently most of the networks are running with this cable.
Category 5e twisted pair cable:àIn Category 5e twisted pair cable e stand for enhanced. This cable can carry data up to 1000Mbps with 100MHz signal frequency. Rests of the specification are same as Category 5 cable.
Category 6 Twisted pair cable:à it’s a 4 pair cable that provides improved performance as compare to category 5e cable. In category 6 twisted pair cable data transfer at 1000Mbps speed with 250MHz signal frequency.
Category 7 twisted pair cable: àIt’s a 4 pair cable with completely shielded twisted pair and it works at 600MHz frequency at 1000Mbps speed. Here completely shielded means each pair is shielded inside outer shield or covering.
Difference between shielded and unshielded twisted pair cable
Unshielded twisted pair cable(UTP)
1) Ordinary telephone wire or similar to that.
2) Cheapest in term of price.
3) Easiest to install.
4) UTP suffer from external or internal interference.
5) Not as secure as STP(shielded twisted pair cable) in terms of physical damage.
Unshileded twisted pair cable
Shielded twisted pair cable (STP)
1) Metal braid or sheeting reduce inference
2) More expensive comparison to UTP cable.
3) Harder to handle as it’s very thick and heavy.
4) Secure in terms of physical damage due to extra shields on internal pair.
Shileded Twisted pair Cable
Weather its shielded twisted pair cable or unshielded twisted pair cable Maximum length of UTP and STP cable is 100 meters. Both connect using RJ 45 connector and both the cable work in Baseband signal transmission mode with impedance of 50 ohm
Next chapter is fiber optics cable