A cat 5—or category 5 (5e, or 6)—is an Ethernet cable, or cabling used to support computer networks. It can transmit video and telephony signals in addition to standard computer data. The cat 5 is usually the bare minimum required for Hosted VoIP. The number designation describes how much data the cable can handle: the cat 5 tops out at 10/100 Mbps speeds at up to 100 MHz bandwidth, the cat 5e at 1000 Mbps speeds, and cat 6 at 10 gigabits for up to 250 MHz. The cable has RJ45 tips on both ends.
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by Ian McLeod | Aug 12, 2020