What is the difference between 10Base 5, 10Base T, 100BaseT and 1000BaseT?
Ethernet cable terminology refers to the rate of signaling in bits and its baseband (vs. broadband) electrical format. The post-fixed character varies in meaning. 10Base5 is the original IEEE 802.3 ‘ThickNet” RG-8/U coaxial Ethernet Cable. Ethernet had a 10Mbit/s rate, used baseband signaling and could propagate a maximum of 500m as a segment (if not repeated) and required termination at the farthest end of a daisy-chain of client connections. 10BaseT differs from 10Base5 in employing differential baseband signaling across two twisted pairs in a 4 pair Category 3 (CAT3) cable. The signaling retains the 10Mbit/s rate of its 10Base5 precursor. Significantly, 10BaseT networks deploys as a star configuration from a central hub or switch, reducing the strategic planning and ‘stub’ lengths typical of 10Base5 lineal daisy chain implementation. 100BaseT employs a 100MB/s signal rate retaining the baseband electrical and the star configurational formats of its 10BaseT precursor. A version of th
