The main difference you will find when you are comparing cat 5 vs cat 3 cabling is speed and usability. You will find that when you use cat 5 wiring instead of cat 3 you will have much higher speeds. The cat 5 is also able to resist outside noise much better than the cat 3 wiring. With the cat 5 wiring you can work up to 100baseT wiring , whereas with the cat 3 you can only use the 10baseT networking.
When you are comparing cat 5 vs cat 3 you should always keep these factors in mind. Since the creation of the much faster and smoother cat 5 cabling the only practical advantage that Cat 3 has over cat5 wiring is for telephone lines, small networks, and for someone working on a reduced budget. The cat 5 wiring cost almost $70 per 1000 feet while cat 3 is a great deal cheaper than that.
Many people believe that cat 3 wiring is becoming obsolete what with
the recent addition of cat 6 wiring, this however is simply not true. Cat 3 wiring is still in regular use for phone lines, dial up modems, and 10mbps internet connections. The only cable that has become truly obsolete is the old untwisted quad cable. It is very conceivable that in the near future cat 3 wiring will become obsolete. An objective option would be within the next seven to ten years. You should take all of these factors into consideration when you deciding between cat 5
vs cat 3.
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