How To: Buying Guide Of Cat5E Plenum Copper Cable
Bulk ethernet cables are in demand for fast-speed networking and it keeps on increasing with the increased demand for gigabit or 10 gigabit speed. But which cable to buy and how to buy the right networking cable for business or home network?
This blog will revolve around the Category Cable “Cat5e Plenum” a primary gigabit category cable to support 1000 Mbps. Before knowing the buying guide for the Cat5e Ethernet Cable first you need to understand “What Bulk Cat5e Plenum Cable Is”? What impact do twisted pairs have on data transmission? So I recommend reading this blog to know more. Let’s start with a brief introduction to the Cat5e Ethernet Cable Bulk Category.
What Is Bulk Cat5e Ethernet Cable?
Bulk cat5e ethernet cable is known for its high-speed networking speed over shorter lengths. At ideal length, the enhanced category will support “Fast Ethernet” which is 100 Mbps. If you see the conductor diameter, it features 24 AWG conductor size which is appropriate for transferring the bulk information according to the speed limit.
Cat5e cable bulk is most commonly used for households, commercial offices, SMEs, data centers, and network closets. The cable has twisted pairs and the core part of the cable has a copper conductor which is the medium to transfer the data packets from the server to different devices.
Key Factors of Cat5e Plenum Ethernet Cable
The following are the key characteristics of the Cat5e plenum cable. The price gap between other network cables and Cat5e depends on these features.
- Plenum Rating — the outer jacket “Plenum” of Cat5e plenum copper cable ensures fire and toxic smoke prevention. The cable is fit to be installed in horizontal spaces of the buildings. The bulk cat5e plenum jacket makes sure the cable meets the fire safety standard of the building.
- Pure Copper Conductor — What could be more satisfying than getting a streamlined data flow? With Copper conductor, you can attain the desired speed and performance with Cat5e Plenum 1000ft which will make your browsing more easy and without any latency.
- Twisted Pairs — the twisted pairs feature 4-5 twists per inch to reduce the crosstalk and attenuation that may cause the network cable to cause errors and unsorted speed.
- Data Transfer Rates — Cat5e Ethernet Cable supports 100 Mbps and 1000 Mbps speed with 350 MHz bandwidth capacity. Cat5e plenum cable has pure copper inside its core so you trust this cable to provide speed and performance.
- Cost-Effective — Cat5e Plenum cable is a more cost-efficient choice than Cat6 and Cat6a. The Cat5e plenum copper cable is for small networking needs and when you are dealing with a low budget.
The above points highlight the key characteristics of the bulk Cat5e plenum 1000ft cable. But have you ever wondered why conductors inside the ethernet cable are twisted? So, let’s explore why it is necessary to use twisted pair cables.
Why Twisted Pairs?
Let’s understand the reason behind the twisted pairs. The mode of signal transmission is electric current in ethernet cables and also electric current whenever passing through a medium generates an (Electromagnetic) EM field or waves. So a straight conductor may have strong electromagnetic fields but when we twist the cable conductor. It generates better results as the twisted pair cancels out the electromagnetic field sourced by each pair. It minimizes the interference and improves the signal.
In cat5e plenum copper cable, there are 4-5 twists per inch and when you keep on proceeding towards the higher category cables you will observe the cable assembly becomes more and more sophisticated.
In the Cat6 Ethernet Cable, we observe 5-6 twists per inch and we can say that it is more tightly twisted than the bulk cat5e cable. Similarly, there are cat6a network cables that have 6-7 twists per inch in a twisted pair cable.
The twisted pair intends to reduce the electromagnetic field and therefore enables data to travel faster and consistently.
Cat5e plenum copper cable has some applications associated with the cable that show the capability of the cable. So what are the applications cat5e plenum cable capable of?
Applications of Cat5e Plenum Cable
For Installation needs the bulk Cat5e plenum 1000ft cable can be used for
- Residential and commercial buildings
- Data Centers and network closets
- Home networks and SMEs
For Fast Ethernet Applications the Cat5e ethernet cable is quite acceptable due to its speed properties.
- Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps)
- Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps)
- PoE up to 12.5 to 15 watts with copper conductor
- VoIP devices
- IoT devices
- Audio and video streaming
- Gaming consoles
Factors For Buying Ethernet Cable
This guide is for the newbie who is buying cables for the first time or knows less about LAN cables. What factors should you consider while buying your desired Network Cables? So you shouldn’t be worried about the buying of ethernet cables. Here are the tips for buying Cat5e Ethernet Cable.
- Cable Category according to the server speed if it’s limited to 1 Gbps or above Cat5e and Cat6 ethernet cables are feasible for gigabit speed.
- Cable Length is more important whether you need to buy the Cat5e plenum 1000ft bulk cable. It will reduce the chances of getting short of cable length.
- Cable Quality is most important. You should look for the best quality cables for the best performance.
- The selection of a Cable Jacket is a primary task; it will idealize the installation location of the cable. Just like Cat5e plenum copper cable is for horizontal and vertical spaces.
- Environmental conditions should be revealed if there are preinstalled complex structures of the power cable or LAN cables. For that, you need STP cables.
- Future Proofing is another need. If you are going to expand the network with advanced technology your LAN cable should support it rather than buying the next advanced category.
Final Thought
Bulk Cat5e Ethernet Cable is not a normal cable but it can be used for gigabit speed applications. It is cost-effective and its copper conductor makes it possible to use for PoE applications but it’s restricted to 12 to 15 watts (DC).
The LAN cables are low-voltage and are utilized for almost every event of networking when speed and performance are top priority.