Category Cable Types

Category cables commonly refer to 100 Ohm twisted pair Ethernet cables. These cables are also known as: LAN (Local Area Network), data, and networking cables. The term "category" defines the type, application, and electrical performance of the cable. CATx is an abbreviation for the category number that defines the performance of building telecommunications cabling as outlined by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) standards.

The most common cable Category cables on the market today are indicated in the chart below:

Name	Common Types	Bandwidth Standard	Applications	Standard
CAT3	UTP	Up to 16 MHz	10BASE-T and 100BASE-T4 Ethernet	Now mainly for telephone cables. ISO/IEC 11801 Ed2 Class C. TIA/EIA 568-C.2
CAT5E	UTP, F/UTP	Up to 100 MHz	100BASE-TX & 1000BASE-T Ethernet	Enhanced Cat5. ISO/IEC Class D. TIA/EIA 568-C.2
CAT6	UTP, F/UTP	Up to 250 MHz	1000BASE-T Ethernet	ISO/IEC 11801 Ed2 Class E. TIA/EIA 568-C.2
CAT6E	UTP, F/UTP	Up to 250 MHz (500 MHz for some)	Same as Cat6	Not a standard. Used by some cable manufacturers as a sales tool.
CAT6A	UTP, F/UTP	Up to 500 MHz	Augmented Cat6. 10GBASE-T Ethernet	ISO/IEC 11801 Ed2 Class Ea. TIA/EIA 568-C.2.
CAT7	S/FTP	Up to 600 MHz	Telephone, CCTV, 1000BASE-TX in the same cable. 10GBASE-T Ethernet.	ISO/IEC 11801 Ed2 Class F. No TIA/EIA classification at this time.
CAT7a	S/FTP	Up to 1000 MHz	Augmented Cat7. Telephone, CATV, 1000BASE-TX in the same cable. 10GBASE-T Ethernet.	ISO/IEC 11801 Ed2 Class Fa. No TIA/EIA classification at this time.