You may have heard the term “Cat” before when it comes to Ethernet cables (e.g. Cat 5, Cat 6), but what about when someone is talking about cellular? “Cat” refers to the category of a 4G LTE modem (5G does NOT use categories). 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a cellular technology in which both voice and data service can operate.

Categories are used to define the performance specs of the LTE device. They range from 1 to 22 and differ with regards to the frequency band support as well as the upload and download speeds they are capable of running. For example, Cat 1 modems can download at up to 10 Mbps (megabits), while Cat 22 modems are going to receive download speeds of up to 4 Gbps (gigabits).

Cat 18

The Cat 18 modem not only supports more frequencies than lower categories, but more antennas also. These support 4x4 MiMO. Max throughput is 1200 Mbps down and 300 Mbps up so it is more than capable of handling multiple user streams simultaneously. This type of modem would be appropriate for larger businesses needing to support over 50 users, or small groups requiring high levels of download bandwidth.

LTE Category	Max Download Speed	Max Upload Speed
Cat 1	10 Mbps	5 Mbps
Cat 3	100 Mbps	50 Mbps
Cat 4	150 Mbps	50 Mbps
Cat 6	300 Mbps	50 Mbps
Cat 7	300 Mbps	100 Mbps
Cat 11	600 Mbps	75 Mbps
Cat 12	600 Mbps	100 Mbps
Cat 15	800 Mbps	226 Mbps
Cat 18	1200 Mbps	300 Mbps
Cat 20	2000 Mbps	300 Mbps
Cat 22	4000 Mbps	450 Mbps