CAT5E SFTP Network Cable

How this construction is built

Copper network cable is made up of four twisted pairs, a separator or filler where the category needs one, and a jacket. The pair twist rate is what keeps crosstalk down; the filler in CAT6 and above holds the pairs in a fixed geometry so the higher frequencies stay testable. Shielding — foil, braid or both — is added on top of that geometry, never instead of it.

Because the pairs are the same from CAT5E to CAT7, the visible difference between two part numbers is usually the shield and the jacket: an FTP cable adds aluminium foil and a drain wire to the unshielded construction, and an LSZH version keeps the same conductors and shield but changes the jacket compound.

Where this family is specified

Horizontal cabling between the telecom room and the work area outlet is the main use: office floors, schools, clinics, hotels and light industrial buildings. Outdoor constructions with a PE jacket and waterproof paper are used where the cable leaves the building or runs in a wet duct, and the shielded versions are chosen where the cable route passes drives, lift machinery or long parallel runs of power cable.

The patch cords on this site are made from the same production, so a channel can be specified end to end from one supplier and tested as one channel rather than as a cable plus an unknown cord.

What to confirm before ordering

Four answers fix the part number: category (data rate), shield (electromagnetic environment), jacket (fire strategy) and colour or printing (customer documentation). Reel length, packing and the exact copper weight per reel are confirmed with the quotation, and the electrical limits in the table above are the ones to quote to your customer.