Originally posted by: Eug
Originally posted by: JackMDS
Let me make sure that I understand.
I have a Nice Fireplace, so if I am Short of wood or want the save few $$, I can use Horse manure(or similar substance) instead of wood to keep my house temperature Up.
Is this is the correct analogy?
Not really. In stores are actually firewood substitutes for fireplaces. One is pressed wood shavings, and the other is pressed left over coffee plant products. Both actually cost more than bulk firewood (but cost less when purchasing small amounts).
Your analogy is way off base anyway. It's not as if anyone is actually recommending using CAT3 for networking, when CAT5 or better is available. However, if you're stuck in a house in the middle of nowhere and the only fuel for the fireplace is dried horse manure, I'd rather use that than freeze to death.
Lemme guess. You have never tried overclocking a CPU just for fun?
Originally posted by: cmetz
It would not surprise me if the factory that makes that cable churns out one kind of cable, and labels it cat5 or cat3 depending on demand. It's probably not even cost effective at this point to make true cat3 or cat4 anymore vs. just churning out cat5. Or perhaps the stuff that doesn't quite pass testing is labelled cat3 and harvested.
Again, have you ever seen CAT5 with just a few twists per foot? I don't have much experience installing cable, but I can honestly say I have never seen any CAT5 from any era that looks like CAT3. Even back in the 90s, CAT5 (without the 'e') was much more tightly twisted than CAT3 is now.
Because CAT3 has much less twists, it also has less copper even at the same wire gauge. So even in 2009, it still makes sense to make CAT3 at less than CAT5 spec levels, for cost reasons. Remember, CAT3 is still an extremely popular standard. It is the standard of choice in fact for home installs, for phone lines. It's significantly cheaper than CAT5e, and it's a lot lighter too.
Originally posted by: ScottMac
You cannot judge a cable by the twists. There are many more factors that go into producing a cable that meets the higher spec. Yes, twists play some part of it, but more often the case, the difference in the twist ratio from one pair to another. There is no meaningful standard, there is no specific convention ... the producer of the cable will engineer it the way they decide to meet the published specification.
They also can change the insulating material, the lay of the pair within the sheath, the sheath material, the amount of twisting of the aggregated pair , the conductor size, thickness of the insulation.
That makes sense, but it still comes down to this... Have you ever seen CAT5 that looks like conventional CAT3, with just a few twists per foot?