is a cat 5 cable the same as a cross over cable?

Answer 1

Yes and no.

Cat5 refers to a standard of how the wires are wrapped and twisted. A cross over cable refers to the pairing of wires on each end and that in a cross over cable the pairs are "crossed over".

A cross over cable is most likely going to be Cat5 or Cat5e but a Cat5 cable does not have to be a cross over cable.

Cross over is used to connect two devices such as a PC to PC, some hubs to a switch, some switches to another switch and so forth.

Answer 2

Technically, "Cat5" or "Category 5" refers to the grade/electrical properties of the wire, but the term is commonly used to describe a standard ethernet cable that connects your network interface card (NIC) to an Internet switch, router, or modem.

A crossover cable is simply a standard ethernet (Cat5, or other grade) cable with pins 2 and 3 crossed (i.e. 2 goes to 3, 3 goes to 2) at either end and is commonly used to connect two devices directly without the need for an intermediary switching device. For example, if you wanted to network two computers by running a cable from the network card in the first (directly) to the network card in the other PC.

You can purchase crossover cables or make your own if you have a crimping device. I believe you can also purchase inline adapters (couplers) that cross pins 2/3 and join two standard cables, effectively making a "single" crossover cable.

Answer 3

I agree with the second response.