What is UTP cabling?
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) is a cable with multiple pairs of twisted insulated copper conductors bound in a single sheath. The wire pairs are twisted because it helps reduce crosstalk and noise susceptibility. UTP cabling most commonly includes 4 pairs of wires enclosed in a common sheath. 10Base-T, 100Base-TX, and 100Base-T2 use only 2 of the twisted pair, while 100Base-T4 and 1000 Base-T require all 4 twisted pairs. UTP most often refers to the 100 ohm Category 3, 4, and 5 cable types specified in the TIA/EIA 568-A standard: • Category 3, (Cat 3) cable supports transmission at frequencies up to 16 MHz. • Category 4, (Cat 4) cable supports transmission at frequencies up to 20 MHz. • Category 5, (Cat 5) cable supports transmission at frequencies up to 100 MHz. • Category 5e, (Cat 5e, Enhanced Cat 5, Cat 5+) is a new cable standard that will specify transmission performance that exceeds Cat 5. Cat 5e has improved specifications for NEXT, PSELFEXT, and Attenuation. Like Cat 5, it cons
