CAT5E Ethernet Cables

CAT 5E Ethernet cables are the industry standard for patching together network connections. Whether you are setting up a computer, wireless router, or server rack, 4Cabling supplies premium quality CAT5E Ethernet cables, crossover cables, and RJ45 connectors for high-speed connections in the home or office.

CAT5 patch leads have been superseded with CAT5E that come in a variety of colors and lengths to help you organise your cables for easy identification. We also offer a variety of RJ45 Ethernet cables in CAT6 and CAT6A patch cables for all your network cabling needs.

CAT 5E Ethernet cabling with the RJ45 plug is a twisted pair cable designed for carrying signals, such as telephone and data. CAT5E cable is also known as RJ45 Cable, Ethernet Cable, LAN Cable, Network Cable - and sometimes even 'That Blue Internet Cable'.

To secure the best value for your money without sacrificing the quality of the product, buy CAT5E cables here at 4Cabling. We guarantee the best quality and offer a great variety in all our products. Interested in buying a CAT5E cable but unsure which one to choose? Contact our team to speak with an expert who can provide you with more information about the best cabling solutions for you.

CAT5E Ethernet cables are a network cabling infrastructure that supports Ethernet connection. CAT5E Ethernet cable wiring directly connects from either a modem, router or other network to your device, providing it access to the LAN.

This technology is well-known for replacing analogue phone lines and is typically used in households to connect the home to the internet. They provide substantially improved speed and stability when compared to WiFi.

As the ‘CAT’ stands for category, there are numerous types of Ethernet cables available on the market.  

You should measure your household’s current internet connection speed when choosing an Ethernet cable to ensure that you find a cable that is suitable for your context. Purchasing an underperforming or overperforming cable can impact the stability of your LAN connection.

The different types of Ethernet cables are divided by category - spanning from CAT3 to CAT8. The most commonly used cables are:

• CAT3: Offering 10Mbps data rate, this older type of cable is generally only used for slower 10BASE-T Ethernet installations.
• CAT5: A Cat5 cable can be used for most varieties of Ethernet. They offer a performance of up to 100MHz.
• CAT5E: As the updated version of Cat5 cables, a Cat5E cable can support Gigabit Ethernet speeds that reach up to 1000Mbps.
• CAT6: Providing a high performance speed of 10Gbps, Cat6 Ethernet cables are a newer type of cable popular that offer a bandwidth of 250MHz.
• CAT6A: This type of cable is the ‘augmented’ version of Cat6 Ethernet cables. Cat6A cables can support data transfer rates that reach 10Gbps and have a bandwidth of 500MHz.
• CAT7: Cat7 cables supports speeds up to 10Gbs at distances up to 100 metres, with a bandwidth of 1.000 MHz.
• CAT8: Cat8 cables provide data transfer speeds of up to 40Gbs.

The high-performing CAT7 and CAT8 cables are typically reserved for niche uses.

As the ‘e’ in CAT5E stands for ‘enhanced’, CAT5E Ethernet cables are the newer, enhanced version of CAT5 cables. 

When compared to the traditional CAT5 cable, CAT5E cables offer significantly improved performance, especially in terms of data transmit speed. A CAT5 cable can support networks that run at 10 Mgbs, while a CAT5E cable supports speeds up to 1Gbs. There is also a significant difference in bandwidth, which is the capacity of the amount of information the system can carry. CAT5 cables have a bandwidth of 100MHz and CAT5E cables have a bandwidth of 350MHz.

CAT5E cables are also less likely to be impacted by cross talk (i.e. the disturbance that occurs when a signal is affected by a signal in an adjacent circuit).

CAT6 cables are an even newer form of cabling in comparison to CAT5 and CAT5E cables. CAT6 cables have stricter performance specifications than CAT5 cables, which translates to higher speeds and significantly reduced crosstalk. 

Differences between CAT5 and CAT6 cables include:

• CAT5 cables support only up to 1000BASE-T, while CAT6 cables support 10GBASE-T
• CAT5 cables have a bandwidth capacity of 100MHz, while CAT6 cables have a bandwidth capacity of 250MHz
• CAT5E cables reach speeds up to 1Gbps, while CAT6 cables reach speeds up to 10Gbps