4-5

Connectivity Rules

4
1000BASE-T Cable Requirements
All Category 5 UTP cables that are used for 100BASE-TX connections should also
work for 1000BASE-T, providing that all four wire pairs are connected. However , it is
recommended that for all critical connections, or any new cable installations,
Category 5e (enhanced Category 5) or Category 6 cable should be used. The
Category 5e specification includes test parameters that are only recommendations
for Category 5. Therefore, the first step in preparing existing Category 5 cabling for
running 1000BASE-T is a simple test of the cable installation to be sure that it
complies with the IEEE 802.3-2005 standards.
1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet Collision Domain
100 Mbps Fast Ethernet Collision Domain
Table 4-1 Maximum 1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet Cable Length
Cable Type Maximum Cable Length Connector
Category 5, 5e, 6 100-ohm UTP or STP 100 m (328 ft) RJ-45
Table 4-2 Maximum 1000BASE-SX Gigabit Ethernet Cable Length
Fiber Size Fiber Bandwidth Maximum Cable Length Connect or
62.5/125 micron
multimode fiber 160 MHz/km 2-220 m (7-722 ft) LC
200 MHz/km 2-275 m (7-902 ft) LC
50/125 micron multimode
fiber 400 MHz/km 2-500 m (7-1641 ft) LC
500 MHz/km 2-550 m (7-1805 ft) LC
Table 4-3 Maximum 1000BASE-LX Gigabit Ethernet Cable Length
Fiber Size Fiber Bandwidth Maximum Cable Length Connector
9/125 micron
single-mode fiber N/A 2 m - 5 km (7 ft - 3.2 miles) LC
Table 4-4 Maximum 1000BASE-ZX Gigabit Ethernet Cable Length
Fiber Size Fiber Bandwidth Maximum Cable Length Connector
9/125 micron
single-mode fiber N/A 70 km - 100 km
(43 - 62 miles) LC
Note: For link spans exceeding 70 km, you may need to use premium single mode fiber or
dispersion shifted single mode fiber.
Table 4-5 Maximum Fast Ethernet Cable Length
Type Cable Type Max. Cable Length Connector
100BASE-TX Category 5 or better 100-ohm UTP or STP 100 m (328 ft) RJ-45