What Types of Cabling Are Used for Ethernet?
Ethernet Cables Ethernet is the standard for communicating over a network. While there have been other standards, Ethernet has been the most-used standard for decades. Ethernet cables are currently all twisted-pair cables. In the past, however, coaxial cables were used as the Ethernet standard. Twisted Pair Twisted pair is what is used for modern network cabling. In twisted pair, two wires are twisted together. This twisting causes any electromagnetic interference to be equal between the two wires. The signal sent is opposite between the two wires so that the receiver can read the difference between the two wires to eliminate interference. Most modern systems use Category 5e cables. Twisted Pair Standards There are different standards for the twisted-pair cables. Seven can be used with Ethernet. Category 3 is an older standard made for 10-megabit Ethernet. Category 5 is a 100-megabit standard. Category 5 has been replaced by Category 5e as 5e can run the gigabyte network as well as the
