Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable

• consist of two insulated copper wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern to minimize the
• electromagnetic interference between adjacent pairs
• low frequency transmission medium
• low cost, small size, and ease of installation
• limited distance, usually less than 100 meters
• the most popular and is generally the best option for school networks

  Categories of UTP Cable

Category 1 Voice Only (Telephone Wire)
Category 2 Data to 4 Mbps (LocalTalk)
Category 3 Data to 10 Mbps (Ethernet)
Category 4 Data to 20 Mbps (16 Mbps Token Ring)
Category 5 Data to 100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet)

• Catalog 5 cable is widely used for a 10 Mbps Ethernet network
• 10BaseT is the IEEE 802.3i standard specification for 10Mbps Ethernet transmission over UTP (Catalog 3, 4, or 5) cable
• The standard connector for UPT cable is an RJ-45 connector, which looks like a large telephone modular connector

Coaxial (Coax) Cable

• like the wire used to connect a TV or VCR
• has an inner conductor surrounded by a braided mesh
• both conductors share a common center axial, hence the term "co-axial"
• bandwidth of up to 400 Mhz
• highly resistant to signal interference
• used for long distance (300-600 meters)
• quite bulky and sometimes difficult to install
• the most common type of connector used with coaxial cables is the BNC (Bayone-Neill-Concelman) connector

• has two types of coaxial cable:
  Thin coaxial cable
  • refers to as thinnet
  • 10Base2 is the IEEE standard for Ethernet running on thin coaxial cable
  • the 2 refers to the approximate maximum segment length being 200 meters
  • is popular in school networks, especially linear bus networks

Thick coaxial cable

• refers to as thicknet
• 10Base5 is the IEEE standard for Ethernet running on thick coaxial cable
• the 5 refers to the approximate maximum segment length being 500 meters
• has an extra protective plastic cover that helps keep moisture away from the center
• conductor
• difficult to bend and install
• used for long distance linear bus networks

Fiber Optic

• consist of a center glass core surrounded by several layers of protective materials
• immunity to environmental interference
• greater capacity (bandwidth of up to 2 Gbps)
• used for distances up to 100 kilometers
• carry information at vastly greater speeds
• very expensive
• small size and lighter weight
• difficult to install and modify, require highly skilled installers
• adding additional nodes is difficult
• 10BaseF refers to the specifications for fiber optic cable carrying Ethernet signals
  

Wireless

• use high frequency radio signals or infrared light beams to communicate between the workstations and the server
• need transciever/antenna to send and receive data
• widely used for connecting laptop computers to the LAN
• expensive
• poor security
• slower than LANs using cabling
• susceptible to electrical interference from lights and radios