Cables

Here are a few types of cables you might see around campus:

Category 5e Cable (Cat5e)

Cat 5 Cables

Cat 5 cables are currently the standard cable at USM. They include four twisted pairs in a single cable jacket. They are limited to a maximum of 300 ft, and can reliably hold frequencies of up to 100MHz.

Category 3 Cable (Cat3)

Cat 3 Cables

Cat 3 cables are slowly becoming obsolete around campus, and you may never see them. They are designed to reliably carry 10Mbit/s, with a maximum bandwidth of 16 MHz. If you think your dorm room has a Cat 3 jack in it, please call resnet and we will replace it with a Cat 5 jack. Once we do, you'll be able to use a Cat 5 cable.