MHz specs for the Meraki Switch Ports

[GFrazier]

Would anyone know the MHz specs for the Meraki switch ports?  I am just curious to know.  

[PhilipDAth]

Could you be more specific?

[GFrazier]

Hi,

You know how cat5e cable is 100Mhz and cat6 is 250Mhz - both are capable of 1Gb speed. Is there some specification that shows the frequency info on a switch port in addition to the speed?

[PhilipDAth]

No.  There is a cable test tool in MS switches though.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MS/Monitoring_and_Reporting/Using_the_Cable_Test_Live_tool 

[BlakeRichardson]

One would assume that they are using industry standard hardware.

[GFrazier]

Hi Blake, 

I know I may be reaching with wanting to know that particular info. I was just curious though. I usually am very interested in the small in-and-outs like that...

Like you mentioned that they would be using industry standard equipment - the 5e cable has been around for quite a while...I know cat6 has too by now... was just wondering if the ports may be standard to a specific frequency on some devices.

[GFrazier]

Thanks Phillip... it was just a curiosity. Thanks for the info.

[GIdenJoe]

The port will negotiate the standard it will communicate on.

So if you would have access to the standard specification of 1000BASE-T you'd know what MHz the transmission will be at.
However if you go up to speeds like 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T and 10GBASE-T you'll see the MHz going up.

So if you look at Meraki models like the MS350-24x or the MS355 family and most of the MS390 family you'll see support for the higher speeds and thus the higher MHz too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2.5GBASE-T_and_5GBASE-T

[GFrazier]

Thanks Joe.

I saw a chart on that. So, basically, although 5e cable Mac at 100Mhz, it is safe to assume that the equipment that supports1000Base-T Ports is designed to handle 250 MHz as well then, right?

[GIdenJoe · Accepted solution]

That’s not exactly what I meant.

The cat5e cabling is rated to reliably transport data at 100MHz clock speed at 100meters.

Cat6 cabling can go up to 250MHz.

However if your Port is running 1000BASE-T then it will transmit at 31 MHz per pair.

When you go up to 5GBASE-T then you transmit at 100MHz which is why you can use CAT5e for 5GBASE-T.  At 10GBASE-T you need 200MHz.

The ports on a Meraki switch support several standards which means They can transmit and receive at certain MHz. Your cable will support higher.

[GFrazier]

Thanks Joe,

I was basically speaking of a data sheet similar to this following chart, but its for a 2960-Catalyst Model switch... I am sure the Merakis will have the Category 6 included

Connectors and interfaces:
Ethernet interfaces:

10BASE-T ports: RJ-45 connectors, 2-pair Category 3, 4, or 5 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cabling

100BASE-TX ports: RJ-45 connectors, 2-pair Category 5 UTP cabling

1000BASE-T ports: RJ-45 connectors, 4-pair Category 5 UTP cabling

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-2960-l-series-switches/nb-06-cat...

Thanks for all of your feedback - it was helpful.

[cmr]

@GFrazier those are the minimum requirements, as you haven't been able to buy 4-pair cat5 cable for years and I've never seen 2-pair cat5 cable in 25 years of networking!  I can also confirm that cat6 FTP works fine for a 10Mb half duplex connection on a 2960 😇

[cmr]

@GFrazier cables don't have a specific frequency, they are simply rated to transfer electrical signals up to a certain frequency.  i.e. a cat6 cable is rated from from almost 0 to 250MHz, whereas a cat5e cable is rated up to a lower frequency.

In all honestly most cables can handle higher frequencies than they are rated to and many cat5e cables are as good as plenty of cat6 or higher rates cables over shorter distances.  Some will even overrrate to longer lengths.  Use shielded cables wherever possible and you can't go wrong*

* Except Dell 10Gb Cu LOM adapters where most cables have issues...