Ned is trying to decide how he wants to connect the nodes on the network he created. What are the two options that he has? Select one:
a through physical nearness or a central server
b. through hard cabling or wireless radio waves
c. through ethernet cables or Bluetooth
d. through software programs or osmosis

What is Network Cabling?

Cable is the medium through which information usually moves from one network device to another. There are several types of cable which are commonly used with LANs. In some cases, a network will utilize only one type of cable, other networks will use a variety of cable types. The type of cable chosen for a network is related to the network's topology, protocol, and size. Understanding the characteristics of different types of cable and how they relate to other aspects of a network is necessary for the development of a successful network.

The following sections discuss the types of cables used in networks and other related topics.

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable

Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Cable

Coaxial Cable

Fiber Optic Cable

Cable Installation Guides

Wireless LANs

Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable

Twisted pair cabling comes in two varieties: shielded and unshielded. Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) is the most popular and is generally the best option for school networks (See fig. 1).

Fig.1. Unshielded twisted pair

The quality of UTP may vary from telephone-grade wire to extremely high-speed cable. The cable has four pairs of wires inside the jacket. Each pair is twisted with a different number of twists per inch to help eliminate interference from adjacent pairs and other electrical devices. The tighter the twisting, the higher the supported transmission rate and the greater the cost per foot. The EIA/TIA (Electronic Industry Association/Telecommunication Industry Association) has established standards of UTP and rated six categories of wire (additional categories are emerging).

Categories of Unshielded Twisted Pair

CategorySpeedUse

11 MbpsVoice Only (Telephone Wire)

24 MbpsLocalTalk & Telephone (Rarely used)

316 Mbps10BaseT Ethernet

420 MbpsToken Ring (Rarely used)

5100 Mbps (2 pair)100BaseT Ethernet

1000 Mbps (4 pair)Gigabit Ethernet

5e1,000 MbpsGigabit Ethernet

610,000 MbpsGigabit Ethernet

Unshielded Twisted Pair Connector

The standard connector for unshielded twisted pair cabling is an RJ-45 connector. This is a plastic connector that looks like a large telephone-style connector (See fig. 2). A slot allows the RJ-45 to be inserted only one way. RJ stands for Registered Jack, implying that the connector follows a standard borrowed from the telephone industry. This standard designates which wire goes with each pin inside the connector.

Explanation: