What is Category 3?

Category 3 (Cat 3) cable is a type of twisted pair cable commonly used for telephone and data networks. It supports frequencies up to 16 MHz and was historically used for 10BASE-T Ethernet, providing data rates up to 10 Mbps. While Cat 3 is still sometimes used for telephone lines, it has largely been superseded by Category 5e and higher cable standards for data networking due to their superior performance and higher bandwidth capabilities. Its primary use now is for basic telephone wiring.