Different Types of Ethernet Patch Panel

Do you have a messy and tangled Ethernet cable connection in your home or office computer network? Nowadays some home or office Ethernet cable connection uses a patch panel to make any cable connections look neat.  It is not only to make repairs fast and easy.
in this article, you will find answers for the following questions:

Ethernet connections are high-speed and secured connections when it comes to network connection; may it be a small or large network environment.

If you are going for a high-speed application for your network, the most popular choice would be Cat6a and Cat6 patch panel. 110 IDC Blocks is the industry standard so that we can have a fast and easy installation.

Patch

is a term that came early and used where extra equipment will be kept on standby, which could later be a temporary fix or replacement for a failed device like amplifiers. Patch cords and network patch panel are the main instruments of this temporary fixing or reconnection.

Ethernet patch panel allow us to have clean and plug-and-play connections. Patch panel rack also give protection to your cables from EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference) or RFI (Radio Frequency Interference).

There are many types of wall mount patch panel, not just the Cat6a or Cat6 plus they vary in how many ports they have, which typically consist of 4 or 8 modules of 8 ports each.

Ports are the most important part of the patch panel. In the market, we usually have 12 ports, 24 ports, 48 ports, and many more like Telect’s special patch panel for backbone fiber-optic cable with a massive 1,536 ports.

What are the Types of Ethernet Patch Panel?

Keystone patch panel, punch down patch panel, and feed-through patch panel are the types that are mostly used these days. Let’s discuss each below:

• Keystone Patch Panel– this type of patch panel allows the user to have a color-coding scheme plus there are the numbering and label in front, which is very good for managing your cables, and you can quickly identify the cable runs.

The keystone jack patch panel uses keystone jacks and keystone inserts for us to configure our board so that we can adjust to a variety of schemes. When using this type of patch panel, we get all the functionality and compatibility at a small price.

• Punch Down Patch Panel– this type of patch panel is usually a Cat5e or Cat6 version. There we can see in the front RJ45 ports where we can connect patch cables. This type comes with numbers and labels, too in its ports.

There are color markings in the rear side of the panel so that there is no error in terminating or punching down the wires. To terminate each wire individually in this type of patch panel, we use a punch down tool with a 110 blade.

• Feed-through Patch Panel– this type of patch panel is the simplest but most expensive type of Ethernet patch panel. Simple in a way, you just must connect Ethernet cables from the back and the front, meaning no terminating of wires or punching down of wires to the ports needed.

If you are going for a high-density application, then this is the best suitable type to use. If you ever needed quick, easy, and no error connections, then this is the type you need to use if you are not on a tight budget on your network connection project.

Those are the three commonly used type of patch panel and these types have versions of it.

Here are some versions of the Ethernet patch panels

• Cat5 Patch Panel – this version uses a RJ-45 Ethernet cable. This type is available in many numbers of ports like 8, 16, 24, and many more.

Cat5 patch panel are rarely used because it has an upgraded version, that’s why this type of panel is a little bit of hard to find.

This type is a punch down type of patch panel so you need to do crimping, cutting, and stripping tool to use this type of patch panel.

• Cat5e Patch Panel – this version of patch panel has two types-the punch down and the feed-through Like Cat5, this version is available in 8, 12, 16, 24, and many more ports.

When you are going to use this type of panel you need to check the plug type, if it is booted or non-booted. If you are going to plug and unplug your cables always, then you need a booted patch cable because it is resistant to breakage.

If you are going to use a punch down type, then you are going to need a punch down tool for crimping, cutting, and stripping.

If you have a high-density network system, then feed-through patch panel type should be the choice. This type comes with 1U up to 4U unshielded ports and this type ensures an easy installation and neat looking cable management.

Patch panel cat5e is ready for 1000Base-T Gigabit Copper Ethernet and can deliver a steady 100 MHz (Megahertz) connection to copper Gigabit switches.

• Cat6 Patch Panel– this version of patch panel is a rack-mount or wall-mount patch panel. For a 10 gigabit Ethernet network connection this is the very durable choice and it has a dust cover on the rear part to limit the impact of dust in the connections.

Patch panel cat 6 comes in different number of ports like 12, 24, 48, and so on. Some makers make heavy duty ports and backwards compatible with the Cat5A Patch Panel.

This version of cat6 rack mount patch panel is a perfect fit if you have a 19-inch rack with a 2U standard height and it also comes in two different types the punch down type and the feed-through patch panel types.

Cat 6 panel ports are number with color coded T568A and T568B wiring specification and standard, so cable management is not a problem.

It has a compatibility with solid wires from 23 AWG to 26 AWG.

With Cat6, you can just punch down (if you are using a Punch down type) or just insert (for feed-through type) cables or pin out with ease and make them look nice and well organized.

• Cat6a Patch Panel – Cat6a Ethernet Patch Panel is the upgraded version of Cat6. It is almost like the Cat6 Patch Panels but with some several variations.

Here are the variations of Cat6a from Cat6 Ethernet Patch Panels:

• Rack Mount Size 1U for shielded Cat6A Ethernet Patch Panel with 24 ports or 48 ports
• Strain Relief Support Size 1U for shielded Cat6 Ethernet Patch Panel with 24 ports

What are important things to look for on a Cat6A Ethernet Patch Panel?

• Shielded Cat6A Ethernet Patch Panel Superior Quality
• Cable compatibility of Cat6A Shielded Keystone jacks
• UL listed
• Rack and Enclosure mount with a 19 inches height
• Equipped for Gigabit connection or network
• TIA/EIA 568A & 568B Compliant Standards Ready
• Good for Cat6A cables 22-26 AWG (American Wire Gauge) Stranded and Solid

There you go with the types and versions of Ethernet Patch Panels. But before you buy your Ethernet Patch Panels, let us discuss first something about wire and other instruments that you are going to use with them.

What are Patch Cables?

First, let me give you some information about Patch cables.

A patch cable also known as network patch panel is used for connecting one device to another for signal routing like a computer to a switch or a switch to a router. They are made with many different colors so that it will be distinguished right away.

Ethernet patch panel is usually made of coaxial cables, with the signal carried through a shielded core, and the electrical ground or earthed return connection is carried through the wire mesh surrounding the core.

Each end of the of the cable should be terminated to a connector or the back of a patch panel (punch down type). Connector type and patch panels vary widely.

Here are some types of Ethernet wires or cables

     1. Cat3 cable was very popular in data communication cables until 2000. This type of cable is also known as station wire. It is an unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable which is used for voice and data communication networks.

Electronics Industry Alliance or EIA and Telecommunication Industry Association or TIA defined this. Cat3 cable with its 16 MHz bandwidth delivers good voice communication performance.

    2. Cat5 cable also known as category 5 cable, is made for high signal integrity which is an unshielded twisted pair cable type. This type of cable has four twisted pairs in a single cable jacket with coaxial wire surrounding them.

This cable usually has three twists per inch of each twisted pair of 24 AWG copper wires inside the cable. Twisting of the cables is needed to reduce electrical interference and crosstalk.

    3.Cat5e cable is the upgraded version of the Cat5 cables which adds specification for far-end crosstalk which is used for gigabit Ethernet connection

Ethernet network doesn’t have longer cable set-ups or distances because the maximum of cable length is 90 meters in length for horizontal cables

  4. Cat6 cable is a standard twisted pair cable for Ethernet and other network. Cat6 cables features more precise specifications for crosstalk and system noise compared to Cat5 or Cat5e cables

This type of cable can perform up to 250 MHz which is much higher than the Cat5 and Cat5e that only goes for 100 MHz, but with that performance the maximum length of the cable is down to 55 meters when using a 10GBASE-T. Wire gauges for this cable is 22 AWG to 24 AWG

  5. Cat6A cable is the upgraded version of Cat6 which is characterized to 500MHz and has an improved crosstalk which allows the 10GBASE-T to run at 100 meters maximum distance.

Wire gauges for this cable is 16 AWG to 20 AWG. Cat6A cable is made much thicker than Cat6 but they use the same type of connectors.

6. Cat7 cable is the “new cable on the block”; this type is a shielded twisted pair cable which requires a GigaGate45 connection. At 15 meter distance it can go up to 100 Gbps, and for longer distances it will revert back to 10 Gbps. Cat7 cables are more suitable to use in data centers rather than residential network connection.

Ethernet cables have shielded and unshielded types though there is only minor difference between the two.

Some cables have additional jacket that surrounds the inner twisted wire pairs. Cat3, Cat5, Cat5e, and sometimes Cat6 are Unshielded Twisted Pair cable, while Cat6A and Cat7 are the shielded ones.

When the additional jacket is there then the cable is shielded (STP) cable and when it not it is an unshielded (UTP) cable.

This extra jacket helps the connection by boosting the reliability and blocks out interference from EMI or RFI.

And of course, what is a Ethernet cable without a connector. An Ethernet cable connector is called a pinout.

The RJ-45 is the commonly used in Ethernet network connections. RJ means “registered jack” while 45 refers to the number of interface standard. If you look at it, it looks like a telephone jack.

But RJ-45 is wider than telephone jacks and it has eight conductors while telephone jack has four. The RJ-45 wires are separated by their colors four has solid colors while the other four are striped.

RJ-45 has two wiring color schemes:

The most common of the two is the T-568B, though T-568A is supported by many devices.

But sometimes, some networking applications like computer-to-computer connections when there is no router, hub, or switch available needs a crossover Ethernet cable- meaning a T-568A on one end and T-568B on the other end.

So, there you have it! These are the different kinds of Ethernet Patch Panel and some information on Ethernet cable and connector. Hope that you gain some knowledge about Ethernet Patch Panel and cables in this article.