can also work along with the traditional wired networking to continue using
existing equipment.
A wireless network is still generally slower than a traditional wired network.
However, this situation is changing with wider adoption of newer protocols.
Network Cable
Currently, three types of network cable are available: coaxial, UTP, and fiber.
Coaxial cable looks a lot like the coaxial cable used to connect your television
to the cable jack or antenna. UTP looks a lot like the cable that runs from your
phone to the wall jack (though the jacks are a bit wider). Fiber cable looks
sort of like the RCA cables used on a stereo or like the cable used on
electrical appliances in a home (with two separate segments connected
together). The following sections discuss UTP and fiber network cable in
more detail.
Unshielded Twisted Pair
UTP uses color-coded pairs of thin copper wire to transmit data. Each of the
six categories of UTP serves a different purpose:
Category 1 (Cat1)—Used for voice transmissions such as phone. Only
one pair is used per line: one wire to transmit and one to receive. An RJ-
11 plug is used to connect the cable from the phone to the wall.
Category 2 (Cat2)—Used in early Token Ring networks. Has a
transmission rate of 4Mbps and has the slowest data transfer rate. An RJ-
11 plug is used for cable connections.
Category 3 (Cat3)—Used for 10BASE-T networks. It has a transmission
rate of 10Mbps. Three pairs of cables are used to send and receive
signals. RJ-11 or RJ-45 plugs can be used for Cat3 cables, usually
deferring to the smaller RJ-11. RJ-45 plugs are similar in design to RJ-11
but are larger to handle up to four pairs of wire and are used more
commonly on Cat5 cables.
Category 4 (Cat4)—Used in modern Token Ring networks. It has a
transmission rate of 16Mbps and is becoming less and less common as
companies are switching to better alternatives. RJ-45 plugs are used for
cable connections.
Category 5 (Cat5)—The fastest of the UTP categories, with a
transmission rate up to 1000Mbps. It is used in both 100BASE-T and
1000BASE-T networks and uses four pairs of wire. Cat5 cable came out