Data Cabling, Cat 5 Cabling, Fibre Optic Cabling

This is a term given to any electrical cable that carries Data related signals. In the past this would have been telephone lines carrying modem to modem traffic, Then, for a short while thick or thin co-axial cable for a bus type network. Now it has come full circle, we are now using a cable made from twisted pairs of wire - just as telephone cable has always been but to a better quality. This cable can carry data at speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second. Its restrictions include a maximum length of 100m and it must be installed internally only. Data networks between buildings can be linked with fibre optic cables that can cover distances of 40Km with the cable completely submerged in water. Vale Comms & Data Ltd are specialists in installing both twisted pair and fibre optic cabling.

Cat 5, short for Category 5, is the current preferred industry standard for data cabling & wiring. Cat 5 is an unshielded twisted pair type cable exclusively designed for high signal integrity. The cable consists of four pairs of 24-guage twisted copper pairs terminating in an RJ-45 jack. If a wire is certified as Category 5 and not just twisted pair wire, then it will have "Cat 5" printed on the shielding.

The actual Cat 5 standard describes specific electrical properties of the wire, but Cat 5 is most widely known as being rated for its Ethernet capability of 100 Mbit/s. Category 5 cable comes with three twists per inch of each twisted pair of 24 gauge copper wires within the cable. The twisting of the cable helps to decrease electrical interference and crosstalk. Each wire in a Cat 5 cable is insulated with a plastic (FEP) which has low dispersion. The importance of this insulation is that the dielectric constant of the plastic does not depend mainly on frequency.

Vale Comms & Data also have experience installing and certifying Fibre optic cables. These are perfect for long distance high speed data connections. In addition Vale Comms & Data can install Video cameras and Door entry systems.