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cabling guidelines C-4
Category 5 Cable
Category 5 distributed cable that meets ANSI/EIA/TIA-568-A building wiring
standards can be a maximum of 328 feet (ft) or 100 meters (m) in length, divided
as follows:
• 20 ft (6 m) between the hub or switch and the patch panel (if used)
• 295 ft (90 m) from the wiring closet to the wall outlet
• 10 ft (3 m) from the wall outlet to the desktop device
The patch panel and other connecting hardware must meet the requirements for
100 Mbps operation (Category 5). Only 0.5 inch (1.5 cm) of untwist in the wire pair
is allowed at any termination point.
Category 5 Cable Specifications
Table C-1 lists the electrical requirements of Category 5 UTP cable.
Table C-1. Electrical Requirements of Category 5 Cable
Specification Category 5 Cable Requirements
Number of pairs Four
Impedance 100 Ω ± 15%
Mutual capacitance at 1 KHz ≤ 5.6 nF per 100 m
Maximum attenuation (dB per 100 m, at 20° C) at 4 MHz: 8.2
at 31 MHz: 11.7
at 100 MHz: 22.0
NEXT loss (dB minimum) at 16 MHz: 44
at 31 MHz: 39
at 100 MHz: 32