Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Using An Ethernet Cable

By Mark Walters


There is no denying the prevalence of the internet in our daily lives. It is on the information superhighway that we perform daily tasks, hunt for jobs, and touch base with family and friends. None of these activities would be possible without a way to transfer the multitude of data that passes across the networks, and the physical portion of this transmission is enabled in large part by Ethernet cables. These devices fit into a jack and connect the computer to a modem that allows users to hop on the world wide web for their daily surf.

Much of the construction of an Ethernet cable is a twisted-pair design, and these cables make up the physical layer of an Ethernet computer network. Some of these cables take the form of coaxial cable or as fiber optics. One of the most purchased cable on the market today is the 100BASE-TX version, and it carries data at high speeds reaching 100 megabits per second. Its faster cousin, the 1000BASE-T cable, ups the ante by transferring data at 1 gigabit per second. Possibly the most effective feature of these cables is their ability to support older and slower components, an attribute that makes mixing and matching quite simple when necessary.

When simply stated, the purpose of Ethernet cables is to connect a computer to a server and then to networks all over the world. Locations such as office buildings feature larger setups that often maintain a server. A large number of cables will likely branch off of the server out to the rest of the building. Jacks on the walls of the individual offices feed Ethernet cables to computers located in the room so that they have access to the network.

The home is another location in which you will find Ethernet cables. Those that connect via high speed internet like DSL and cable will likely feature a modem that connects to a local server. The computer, either desktop or laptop, receives its data from the modem using Ethernet cables. These cables are offered in a number of colors so that they can better fit the room and be easily identified among any other cables that might by lying nearby. Many manufacturers recommend that the cables run 10 feet or less, because data begins to distort over any longer distances and that leads to slower and less reliable transfer.

Ethernet cables are there to connect computers to the networks found everywhere on the planet, either by rolled cable or twisted pair. These cables connect computers to modems and then on to servers and all points on Earth, moving data along its path to its destination. The means of this transmission is Ethernet cables, and they are the most popular physical means of connectivity.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment