5 Things You Need to Know About Cat5e Plenum Cable

Cat5e Plenum Cable is extensively used both in residential and commercial installations. The reason being the simple one: it is comparatively inexpensive as compared to Cat6 and Cat6a ethernet cables and supports high-speed data transmission. Here are 5 things that you should know about the Cat5e Plenum Cable: 

CMP-rated jacket

The Cat5e Plenum 1000ft comes with a CMP-rated jacket. It is the highest rating when it comes to the jacket material of the ethernet cables. CMP stands for Communications Multipurpose Cable, Plenum and this type of cable have fire-retardant properties. It means in case a fire erupts or this cable is exposed to blaze, it emits no toxic gases or elements, and thanks to its higher degree of flame resistance, it halts fire progression. 

Usage

As the name itself suggests, the Cat5e Plenum 1000ft is specifically designed to be installed in the plenum or horizontal spaces of the buildings such as below raised floors or above the suspended ceilings. The risk of fire eruption in the plenum or horizontal spaces is always higher. Therefore, you are only allowed to install a plenum-rated cable in these spaces.  Due to their superior quality jacket material, you can use plenum-rated cables in the riser and outdoor spaces, too. However, it can’t be reversed (i-e you can’t use riser-rated or PVC cables in the plenum spaces). 

Conductors

The Cat5e Plenum Cable comes with both pure copper conductors and copper-clad aluminum conductors. The ethernet cables that come with CCA conductors have much higher attenuation than pure copper cables. In case you are wondering what attenuation is, let us explain it to you: attenuation is the loss of signal strength.  Another disadvantage of CCA cables, when compared to pure copper cables, is that the former has as much as 55% higher DC resistance than the latter. Pure copper conductors also provide top-notch performance in harsh environments by providing top-notch resistance against crosstalk and by preventing electromagnetic interference.  As a matter of fact, compared to CCA cables, pure copper Cat5e cable exceeds performance metrics by a wide margin. Therefore, it is always better to buy Cat5e Plenum Bare Copper cable than Cat5e CCA cables. 

Data transfer rates & bandwidth capabilities

The Cat5e Plenum Bare Copper supports data transmission rates of 100Mbps and 1Gbps over a distance of 100 meters and 50 meters, respectively. The cable comes with bandwidth capabilities of 350 MHz. Remember, both the data transfer rates and bandwidth capabilities of our Cat5e cables are far higher than the industry standards. The cable runs 24AWG. 

Standards

Our Cat5e Plenum 1000ft meets all industry standards including FCC, CE, CSA, ISO/IES, and is in compliance with RoHS. It also meets all TIA/EIA standards. Also, our Cat5e cable passes through rigorous testing procedures before making it to the store.