72
votes
Is 30 Mbit/s fibre for WAN faster than 30 Mbit/s copper?
30 Mbit/s is the same speed, no matter if it runs over copper or fiber.
However, there are important link parameters other than link speed/pure bandwidth, so there may be differences. First, latency ...
- 88.1k
31
votes
Accepted
Why does an Ethernet cable have four pairs?
10BASE-T saw first light as StarLAN that made use of the already existing twisted-pair category 3 telephone cabling (instead of the dedicated coax that 10BASE5/2 required). That multi-purpose cabling ...
- 88.1k
28
votes
Is 30 Mbit/s fibre for WAN faster than 30 Mbit/s copper?
30Mb/s is 30Mb/s, but ISPs usually sell you “up to 30Mb/s” because the speed of DSL technologies is highly dependent on the distance between your equipment and theirs.
With fibre, you are more ...
- 381
24
votes
Accepted
What is this thread-like material on this Cat6 U/UTP cable?
It is used to split the outer shielding away without needing to use a sharp object which could potentially damage the wires themselves. It is commonly called a ripcord.
Image taken from http://netx....
- 356
19
votes
Is 30 Mbit/s fibre for WAN faster than 30 Mbit/s copper?
You might consider pointing out to your "network engineering professional" that the propagation delay in copper is LESS that that of fiber (in most cases).
The difference between the two is ...
- 68k
18
votes
Is 30 Mbit/s fibre for WAN faster than 30 Mbit/s copper?
It doesn't appear that any one has explicitly addressed the reliability of transmissions over fiber vs copper.
It may be true that, for example, your router is throttled to 30 Mbps, but the ...
- 281
14
votes
Accepted
The maximum length of CAT6 for intranet network?
Per the ANSI/TIA/EIA 568, Commercial Building Telecommunication Standard, UTP cabling is limited to 100 meters. That length assumes up to 90 meters of solid-core (better performance, but fragile) ...
- 101k
12
votes
Is 30 Mbit/s fibre for WAN faster than 30 Mbit/s copper?
Copper (ADSL or VDSL) specifies a maximum peak speed whereas fiber specifies a maximum average speed. My glass fibre (FTTH) connection is artificially limited to 50 Mbit/s average. At the start of a ...
- 221
11
votes
Accepted
Multiple POE over a single cable
I know this is an older question, hopefully you've solved it by now, but I wanted to toss in my two cents, for the benefit of future generations if nothing else.
First of all, yes, ethernet and PoE ...
- 126
11
votes
Accepted
Why is the Ethernet Connection Symmetric?
The very first Ethernet standards were designed for using a single, shared coax wire. There's no benefit in making the connection asymmetric in any way.
Additionally, network nodes are generally ...
- 88.1k
11
votes
Accepted
RJ45 Cable only has 4 wires
Your cable is not a proper UTP network cable as defined by TIA/EIA 568. In fact, the pairs used by the 10Base-T (10 Mbps) and 100Base-TX (100 Mbps) ethernet are 1-2 and 3-6. The 1000Base-T (1 Gbps) ...
- 101k
10
votes
What is this thread-like material on this Cat6 U/UTP cable?
Its called a ripcord and is used to cut thru the outer casing of the wire so you don't have to use a knife. To those who say it is not strong enough your not using it right. Grab it with a pair of ...
- 101
9
votes
Why is the Ethernet Connection Symmetric?
Q: Why is ethernet symmetric (when compared to ADSL's asymmetry).
A: This is best explained by looking the technical reason for ADSL's asymmetry.
Quoting directly from wikipedia:
There are both ...
- 30k
8
votes
Why are patch panels used (instead of connecting directly to a switch)?
The horizontal cable needs to be solid-core cable. this type of cable gives better performance, but it is much more fragile, and it needs to to terminate in a fixed location, and not be moved after ...
- 101k
8
votes
Why do we need a crossover cable for 1000BASE-T?
Short answer: you don't.
1000BASE-T requires Auto Negotiation to work - the fast link pulses are to be transmitted and received on specific pairs, compatible with 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX. In theory, ...
- 88.1k
8
votes
Is 30 Mbit/s fibre for WAN faster than 30 Mbit/s copper?
Latency can make a connection seem to be much faster.
As an example, typical HTTP traffic downloads a number of small documents that each fit in just a few packets. Even while typical page sizes ...
- 514
8
votes
Accepted
Can Ethernet use fiber optic cables?
Ethernet uses a variety of cable types - an Ethernet cable can be pretty much anything. Ethernet has been using optical fiber for decades. The first standard was 10 Mbit/s FOIRL in 1987, the currently ...
- 88.1k
7
votes
The maximum length of CAT6 for intranet network?
For twisted-pair Ethernet, maximum cable length is 100 m (Cat-6A for 10GBASE-T, Cat-5e for 1000BASE-T or 100BASE-TX, Cat-3 for 10BASE-T) - up to 90 m stiff, solid-core and up to 10 m stranded patch ...
- 88.1k
7
votes
What is the difference between Ethernet types, considering bandwidth?
Different types of Ethernet (standard Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet) have different speed of data transfer (10 Mbit, 100 Mbit, 1 Gbit). Why is that?
Progress - technology advances.
...
- 88.1k
7
votes
Unknown Network cable
The wiring exactly match the one given on this page so it is most probably an APC UPS serial cable
APC part# 940-0127B, 940-127C and 940-0127E
APC Pin USB Pin Description
1 1 USB +...
- 19.8k
6
votes
Accepted
How to verify CAT type?
The cable category should be printed on the cable sheath.
Just having cable rated at a particular category doesn't mean the cable plant is actually rated at that category. All the components of the ...
- 101k
6
votes
Why are patch panels used (instead of connecting directly to a switch)?
There's several reasons:
Cable Length and rack organization
as explained by @John K in his answer this allow to adjust cable length at need. This also allow to organize the rack properly.
Cable ...
- 19.8k
6
votes
What is the best to simulate an RJ45 cable failure without changing switch configuration or removing the cable?
I would very frequently use an unplugged cable as an interview test, but never had an automated one.
Just a couple of ideas, presuming your wires can be short (a metre or two)
Use a switch as in ...
- 16.4k
6
votes
Accepted
RJ45 console cable specs
One of the main benefits of using relatively slow console speeds such as the default 9600 baud is that you don't need anything special in the way of cabling: almost any kind of cable will work over ...
- 16.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Practical limits of shielded Ethernet cable
As everybody has said, including the original question, this is a terrible idea and don't do it. I recommend some kind of fibre solution, which can be cheaper than you might think. I recently did an ...
- 16.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Unknown Network cable
That's no network cable.
Likely, it's a console cable, connecting a 10P10C(!) console port on a device to a USB port on a PC. It might be from a UPS (usually has a key next to pin 1) but unless you ...
- 88.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Fiber to copper conversion, what are the odds?
Fiber media converter is a small device with two media-dependent interfaces and a power supply, simply receive data signals from one media, convert and transmit them to another media. It can be ...
- 1,742
6
votes
How can twinaxial cables be faster than CAT cables
Simply put, twinaxial cables allow only very short distances, under 10 meters.
And they are used in networking, for example both 40Gb and 100Gb standards support twinaxial cables... ...up to 7 ...
- 19.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible