In an all digital world (especially in 2020), the Internet is probably the most essential thing to most people, especially to the youth. And, we want the connection to the Internet to be as easy and seamless as possible. So, in this post, we'll be showing different cables that you can use for networking and how to use them, their benefits, among others.
Wireless may be a great thing. Without cables, there will be less clutter for you to take care of. And the worst thing about managing with cables, is cable management, so we tend to choose wireless devices over wired devices. But when it comes to speed and reliability, there's nothing better than a wired connection. Not only do you only just have to connect a cable from one device to another, it's also way quicker because compared to wireless, there is little to no latency at all, while in a wireless connection, you'll definitely experience latency.
Here are some of the common network cables that are used in modern-day networking.
- Twisted Pair
A Twisted Pair is a type of a copper cable that is commonly used for telephone lines and for
by the adjacent pairs of wires in the cable. Pairs of copper wires are encased in a color-coded plastic insulation and they are twisted together. An outer jacket then protects the bundles of twisted pairs.
When electricity flows through a copper wire, a magnetic field is then created around the wire. A circuit has two wires, and in it, two wires will have an oppositely-charged magnetic field. When the two wires of the circuit are next to each other, the magnetic fields cancel each other out, this is called the cancellation effect. Without the cancellation effect, network communications become slow due to the interference that is/are caused by magnetic fields.
The two basic types of twister pairs are as follows:
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
This is the cable that consists of two or four pairs of wires. This type of cable relies on the cancellation effect that is only made by the twisted-wire pairs themselves in order to limit signal degradation that is caused by electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency interference (RFI). UTP is the most commonly used cabling in networks. UTP cables have a range of 328 feet (100 m).
Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
Here in the Shielded Twisted Pair, each pair of the wire is wrapped inside a metallic foil to better shield the wires from EMI and RFI. Four pairs of wires are then wrapped inside an overall metallic braid or foil. STP reduces electrical noise from within the cable. It also reduces EMI and RFI from outside said cable. Although the STP prevents interference better than the UTP, the STP usually more expensive of due to the extra shielding. It is also more difficult to install because of its thickness. In addition, the metallic shielding in an STP must also be grounded at both ends. If it is improperly grounded, the shield will act like an antenna, picking up different unwanted signals.
Twisted Pairs Category Rating
A twisted pair comes in different categories which are based on two factors: the number of wires in the cable; the number of twists in the wires. Here are some of the common category ratings for twisted pair cables, where in Mbps is Megabits per second and Gbps is Gigabits per second, which is different from the more common Megabyte and Gigabyte respectively.
* 25 Gbps for Cat 8.1 and 40 Gbps for Cat 8.2.
- Coaxial Cable
A coaxial cable is a copper-cored cable that is surrounded by a heavy shielding. A coaxial cable is used to connect the computers to the rest of the network. This is also used in cable
television.
Coaxial cables use the “British Naval Connectors (BNC)” which is also called “Bayonet Neill- Concelman” connectors, at the ends of the cables to make the connection. Several types of coaxial cables exist:
Thicknet (10BASE5) - is a coaxial cable that is used in networks that are operating at 10 Mbps, with a maximum length of 500 meters.
Thinnet (10BASE2) - is a coaxial cable used in networks operating at 10 Mbps, with a maximum length of 185 meters, which is shorter than Thicknet's 500 meters of length.
RG-59 - is most commonly used for cable television in the Northern America.
RG-6 - is higher-quality cable compared to RG-59, with more bandwidth and less susceptibility to interference.
- Fiber Optic Cables
An optical fiber is a glass or a plastic conductor that transmits information using light/lasers. A fiber optic cable contains one or more optical fibers enclosed in a sheath or a jacket. Because it is made out of glass, fiber-optic cables are not affected by EMI or RFI. All signals are converted to light pulses in order to enter the cable and are then converted back into electrical signals when they leave the cable. This means that fiber-optic cables can deliver signals which are clearer, and can go farther, without compromising the clarity of the signals.
Fiber-optic cables can reach distances of several miles before the signal needs to be regenerated. Fiber-optic cables are usually more expensive to use compared to the more copper cable, and the connectors are also more expensive and harder to assemble. Common connectors for fiber-optic cables are the Standard Connector (SC), Straight Tip Connector (ST), and Lucent Connector (LC). These three types of fiber-optic connectors are half-duplex, which means that they allow data to flow in only one direction. Therefore, two cables are needed.
These are the two types of glass fiber-optic cable:
Multimode - is the cable that has a thicker core compared to a single-mode cable. It is way easier to make, can use simpler light sources such as LEDs, and it also works well over distances of a few kilometers or less.
Single-mode - on the other hand, Single-mode is the cable that has a very thin core. It is more harder to make compared to multimode, it uses lasers as a light source instead of Multimode's LED, and it can transmit signal/s dozens of kilometers with ease.
These are the common network cables that you might encounter when wiring up for a network. We hope this blog post helped yourself become more familiarized with the different cables, their types, and their uses.
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