difference between cat 5 and 5e

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	Question by karano khieu posted 19 Mar 2003
	difference between cat 5 and 5e
How can one tell the difference between cat 5 and cat5e just by looking at the wire, if there were no markings? They both have 4 twisted pairs, 24awg size wires. Is it the number of twists per inch? Also are the colors of the individual wires inside matter? I mean, are cat 5e comes standard with blu/blu-wht, grn/grn-wht, org/orn-wht, and brn/brn-wht?
	Answer by Dmitri Abaimov posted 24 Mar 2003
Dear Karano, There is no way to differentiate between the two by just looking at the cable: the number of twists per inch is patented by the manufacturers, and is not dependent on the standard. The color coding is always the same (for CAT6 as well). I would suggest that if the cable does not have CAT5E marking, it's is most likely CAT5 or even CAT3, because it costs the manufacturers some extra trouble to make the cable meet CAT5E requirements, so I doubt they will ever forget the print "CAT5E" on the outer jacket. Sincerely, Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
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