what is an ethernet cable ?
Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, optical fiber cable, and twisted pair cables, are used depending on the network's topology, protocol, and size. The devices can be separated by a few meters (e.g. via Ethernet) or nearly unlimited distances (e.g. via the interconnections of the Internet).
Network cables are generally made of metal or glass and are used to carry network information. There are three common types of network cables: twisted pair, coaxial cable, and fiber optic cable (optical fiber).
There are two types of twisted pair, shielded Twisted pair (STP) and unshielded Twisted pair (UTP). Most commonly seen is unshielded twisted pair (UTP), which consists of four pairs of thin copper wire, each pair of copper wire twisted together, each copper wire is wrapped in colored plastic insulation. Then the whole thing is covered with a plastic coat. Use RJ-45 connectors
Common UTP categories:
CAT-1: Used for telephone communication, not suitable for data transmission
CAT-2: Can be used for data transfer with a maximum speed of 4Mbps
CAT-3: For 10BASET Ethernet, the maximum speed of data transmission is 10Mbps
CAT-4: For token-ring networks, the maximum speed of data transfer is 16Mbps
CAT-5: For fast Ethernet, the maximum speed of data transfer is 100Mbps
CAT-5e: Used for networks with a maximum transfer speed of 1000Mbps
Cat-6: The specification for CAT 6 was proposed on February 3, 2003, for Gigabit Ethernet (1000Mbps).
CAT-7: Used in 10Gbps Ethernet network.