LAN Cable

Cat 5E, Cat 6, Cat 6A and Cat 7 Cables

Category 5 (CAT 5E), Category 6 (CAT 6 and CAT 6A) and Category 7 (CAT 7) cables are structured cabling for computer networks such as Ethernet. Their specification cover their construction, performance characteristics and test requirements. Category 7 cables are specified in CENELEC EN 50173:2002 and ISO/IEC 11801:2002 standards for installation cables only, however Category 7 cables are not yet recognised by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA/EIA). Category 7 cables, in addition to the approved Cat 5e, 6 and 6a LAN cables, form part of a wide range of cables used for the transmission of Gigabit Ethernet.

CAT 5E, CAT 6 & CAT 6A Specification & Applications

Cat 5E Category 5E supports a frequency range of up to 100MHz and is designed for transmission speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gigabit Ethernet).
Cat 6 Category 6 supports a frequency range of up to 250MHz and is designed for transmission speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gigabit Ethernet). Cat6 offer improved performance and transmission reliability, especially in connection with the 1000BaseT and 1000BaseTX protocols.
Cat 6A A very high performance data cable designed for transmission speeds of up to 10GB per second. Developed specifically with the new 10GBaseT Ethernet protocol in mind. Category 6a offers 500MHz bandwidth and so is suitable for the most data-intensive applications used on metallic computer networks.
Cat 7 Category 7 cables are very high performance data cable designed for transmission speeds of up to 10GB per second over 100m, and supporting frequency ranges up to 600MHz. They are backwards conmpatible with Cat 5e, Cat 6 and Cat 6a, and have individual and overall screening to meet strict crosstalk requirements.
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CAT 5E Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable Construction

  Cat 5E UTP PVC Cat 5E UTP PE Cat 5E UTP SWA LSZH Cat 5E UTP LSZH Cat 5E 25 UTP LSZH

Cat 5E 25 UTP PE Duct Grade

Number of pairs 4 4 4 4 25 25
Conductor Solid copper (Class 1)
Insulation High density Polyethylene (HDPE) HDPE PE
Drain wire - -
Separator - Mylar tape
Screen - -
Braiding / armour - Steel wire armour (SWA) -
Rip cord Tinned copper - Nylon
Outersheath PVC PE Low smoke zero halogen (LSZH) PE
Colour Grey Black Violet Grey Black

 

  Cat 5E FTP PVC Cat 5E FTP PE Cat 5E FTP LSZH Cat 5E PE FTP GSWB LSZH
Number of pairs 4
Conductor Solid copper (Class 1)
Insulation HDPE PE
Drain wire Tinned copper
Screen Al-foil
Braiding - GSWB
Outersheath PVC PE Low smoke zero halogen (LSZH)
Colour Grey Black Violet Black

 

Cat6 & Cat6A Cable Constructions

  Cat 6E FTP PE Cat 6A U/FTP LSZH Cat 6E U/UTP LSZH Cat 6A U/UTP PE Cat 6 U/UTP SWA LSZH
Number of pairs 4
Conductor Solid copper (Class 1)
Insulation HDPE PE Polyolefin HDPE PE
Drain wire Tinned copper
Screen Al-foil (collective) Al-foil (individual)      
Outersheath Low density polyethylene (LDPE) LSZH LSZH LDPE LSZH
Colour Black Blue Light blue Black Black

 

CAT7 Cable Construction

  Cat 7 S/FTP 4 Pair LSZH Veriflex PUR Industrial Ethernet Cable (cat7)
Number of Pairs 4 4
Conductor Solid Copper (Class 1) Stranded Copper
Insulation Foam-skin PE Foam-skin PE
Individual screen Aluminium / mylar tape Aluminium / Polyester tape (Al/PET)
Drain wire Tinned copper  
Overall screen Tinned copper wire braid (TCWB) Tinned copper wire braid (TCWB)
Outersheath LSZH Polyurethane (PUR)
Colour Grey Green

 

Ethernet Cable Standards & Datasheets

The definitions of Ethernet cable standards are covered further in our FAQs. We supply a wide range of CAT 5E cable, CAT 6 cable, CAT 6A cable and CAT 7 cables - the attached datasheets provide for the most commonly requested materials and configurations, but others are available on request and our technical team can support the selection of cables and the most appropriate cable standard for your application. For cables referred to as industrial ethernet, see our range of BUS cables. Our technical team has a wealth of experience in supporting customers with the selection of the optimal cable where in addition to being a Cat 7 cable supplier we can provide a range of Cat 7 cable tests through The Cable Lab® including testing services in relation to third-party structured cabling and installations.

 

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Product name Part No Pairs Nominal cross-sectional area (mm²) Size (AWG) Sheath colour Length (m) Quantity (305m box)  
Cat 5E FTP PVC CableA8NFORCE5EFTP4Pn/aAWG 24Greyn/a
Cat 6 U/UTP SWA LSZH CableA8NCAT6UTPSWA4Pn/aAWG 23Blackn/a
Cat 5E UTP PVC CableA8NFORCE5EUTP4Pn/aAWG 24Greyn/a
Cat 5E UTP PE External CableA8NFORCE5EUTPPE4Pn/aAWG 24Blackn/a
Cat 5E FTP PE CableA8NFORCE5EFTPPE4Pn/aAWG 24Blackn/a
Cat 5E FTP LSZH CableA8NFORCE5EFTPLS4n/an/aVioletn/a
Cat 5E PE FTP GSWB LSZH CableA8NCAT5EFTPGSWB4Pn/aAWG 24Blackn/a
Cat 5E UTP SWA LSZH CableA8NCAT5EUTPSWA4Pn/aAWG 24Blackn/a
Cat 5E UTP LSZH CableA8NFORCE5EUTPLS4Pn/aAWG 24Violetn/a
Cat 5E 25 Pair UTP LSZH CableA8NCAT5E25PRLS25Pn/aAWG 24Greyn/a
Cat 5E 25 Pair UTP PE Duct Grade CableA8NCAT5E25PRDG25Pn/aAWG 24Blackn/a
Cat 6 FTP PE CableA8NCAT6FTPPE4Pn/aAWG 23Blackn/a
Cat 6 UTP PE CableA8NFORCE6PE4n/an/aBlackn/a
Cat 6 UTP LSZH CableA8NFORCE6LSZH4Pn/aAWG 23Violetn/a
Cat 6A U/FTP LSZH CableA8NFORCE6ALS4Pn/aAWG 23Bluen/a
Belden 10GX24 Cat 6A U/UTP LSZH Cablezz0000360834Pn/aAWG 23Bluen/a
Cat 7 S/FTP 4-pair LSZH CableA8NFORCE7LSZH4Pn/aAWG 24Orangen/a
Veriflex PUR Industrial Ethernet CableVBUIEN08G3PUGN14P0.22mm²n/aGreenn/a
Cat 6 F/UTP LSZH CableA8NFORCE6FTPLS4n/a23Violetn/a