# why do some cat5 cables have only 4 pins



## Miguel2013 (Jul 31, 2012)

I have some long cat5 cables that use the rj-45 connector but the number of pins in used are only 4 like telephone cables? the layout is this |||xx|xx the x means no copper connector, they work but I wonder if I'm loosing performance or getting increased lag because of that.


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## Frick (Jul 31, 2012)

Naah I wouldn't think so. It only uses two pairs. You can actually run two connections through one cable because of this.


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## newtekie1 (Jul 31, 2012)

Gigabit requires all 8 wires, 10Mb/s and 100Mb/s only require 4 wires.  So if you are running a 100Mb/s network you won't notice any difference from the missing wires, but if you try to run gigabit with those cables it won't work and it will revert back to 100Mb/s.


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