Straight through cables have identical ends and are used to connect devices to switches or routers. Crossover cables have different ends and connect devices directly to each other without a switch. Category 5e cables support speeds up to 1 Gbps and are the most commonly used type, while CAT6 and higher support even faster speeds but are less prevalent.

2. Crossover Network Cables vs Straight
Through Cable
Straight Through Cables
• When you buy "regular" computer
network cables, you are really just
buying a straight through Ethernet
cable. This means that both ends of
the cables will be identical. The
colours of the smaller cables inside
the ethernet cable, will be in the
same order, from left to right.
• This type of cable is used for
connecting a PC to a hub/switch or
for connecting a router to a switch.
The hub/switch performs the
crossover for you, that is why you
need a crossover cable, for when
you connect a PC directly with
another PC.
Crossover Cables
• A crossover Ethernet cable
have a different look on either
side of the cable. The purpose
of the crossover cable, is to
connect one device directly to
another device, without a
switch or hub being present.
• So if you were connecting one
PC directly with another PC,
you would then use a
crossover network cable.

4. CAT 3 Network Cable
They are an unshielded twisted pair cable
designed to carry data of up to 10 Mbit/s.

5. CAT 3 Network Cable
Specifications of the Cat 3 Ethernet Cable
• Cat-3 cabling supports frequencies of up to
16 Mhz and speeds of up to 10 Mbit/s. This is
much slower then the more recent speeds of
CAT 5 Cables (100 Mhz), or CAT 5e (350 Mhz).
• CAT3 cables were the popular standard with
network administrators, in the early 1990s,
but are now all but completely phased out.
They may still be found in two-line telephone
systems, and can still be easily adapted to be
used to run VoIP.

6. CAT 5 Network Cable
The Cat-5 cable is short for Category 5 cable,
a current industry standard for network and telephone wiring.

7. CAT 5 Network Cable
Specifications of the Cat 5 Ethernet Cable
• Cat-5 cabling supports frequencies of up to 100 Mhz and
speeds of up to 100 Mbps (megabytes per second). The
Cat-5 Cable is unsheilded wire containing four pairs of
24-gauge twisted copper pairs, terminating in an RJ-45
jack.
• Cat5 and Cat5e LAN cables are easily the most popular
and the most common, so it is very probable that if you
are using an Ethernet cable it is a Cat 5 cable.
• However, for the majority Cat5e cables are the normality,
as these have fixed a few little issues that came along
with the Cat5 cable. Cat5e cables also support the faster
speeds of 1000Mbit (or Gigabit) connections.

8. CAT 5e Network Cable
The Cat 5e cable is the most popular network cable around and is easily
the most common in home and office networks. Cat 5e cables are also
certified to run at Gigabit speeds, so if you want a faster network, make
sure you look at getting these cables, as well as getting a Gigabit
certified router and network cards.

9. CAT 5e Network Cable
Specifications of the Cat 5e Ethernet Cable
• Cat-5 cabling supports frequencies of up to
350 Mhz and speeds of up to 1000 Mbps (one
gigabyte per second). The Cat-5e Cable is
unsheilded wire containing four pairs of 24-gauge
twisted copper pairs, terminating in an RJ-45 jack.
• CAT5e cables are easily the most common and
popular ethernet cables being used.
• However, for the majority Cat5e cables are the
normality, as these have fixed a few little issues
that came along with the Cat5 cable. Cat5e cables
also support the faster speeds of 1000Mbit (or
Gigabit) connections.

10. CAT 6 Network Cable
Specifications of the Cat 6 Ethernet Cable
• Cat-6 cabling supports frequencies of up to
250 Mhz and speeds of up to 1000 Mbit/s. This is
a big improvement on previous network cabling
speeds (CAT 3: 10 Mhz, CAT 5: 100Mhz). Cat 6a
cables can perform up to speeds of 500 Mhz.
• CAT6 cables are becoming increasingly popular,
especially with their capabilites of performing at
Gigabit Speeds. However, Cat 5e cables are still
the most used and most popular network cable.
These cables are designed to function at 1000
Mbit/s per second and are used for the more
recent Gigabit networks.

11. CAT 7 Network Cable
Specifications of the Cat 7 Ethernet Cable
• Cat-7 cabling supports frequencies of up to
600 Mhz and speeds of up to 10,000 Mbit/s.
This is a big improvement on previous
network cabling speeds (CAT 3: 10 Mhz, CAT 5:
100Mhz, CAT 6: 250 Mhz). Cat 7a cables can
perform up to frequencies of 1000 Mhz and
40 Gbit/s.
These cables are designed to function at
10 Gigabit, over 100m of copper cabling.

12. • Straight through cables have identical ends and are
used for connecting computers through a hub/switch
• Crossover cables have different ends and are used for
connecting devices directly with each other (eg. PC to
PC)
• Category 5e cables are the most popular and common
computer network cables used today.
• To gain a fast Gigabit network, you don't just require
Cat6 cables, but you are also in need of compatible
gigabit components, such as Gigabit network cards and
a Gigabit Router.