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What are the different types of connection cables for both LAN and WAN?

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Question added by Lobna Elfouly , IT Instructor , Dream International schools
Date Posted: 2014/11/06

Common Ethernet network cable are straight and crossover cable. This Ethernet network cable is made of 4 pair high performance cable that consists twisted pair conductors that used for data transmission. Both end of cable is called RJ45 connector. The cable can be categorized as Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6 UTP cable. Cat 5 UTP cable can support 10/100 Mbps Ethernet network, whereas Cat 5e and Cat 6 UTP cable can support Ethernet network running at 10/100/1000 Mbps. You might heard about Cat 3 UTP cable, it's not popular anymore since it can only support 10 Mbps Ethernet network. Straight and crossover cable can be Cat3, Cat 5, Cat 5e or Cat 6 UTP cable, the only difference is each type will have different wire arrangement in the cable for serving different purposes.

Danish Magrey
by Danish Magrey , Senior Engineer , talentica

1) Straight through for connecting different types of devices. Rather layer 2 to layer 3 and layer 2 to Clients.

2) Cross-over is the opposite of Straight through.

3) Serial cable to take console access for various network devices.

Faseeh Mohd koya
by Faseeh Mohd koya , IT SUPPORT ENGINEER [L2] , Ministry of Sports and Youth

Cat5: A Little Older, A Little Slower

Category 5 cabling, also known as Cat5, is an older type of network cabling. Cat5 cables were made to support theoretical speeds of 10Mbps and 100Mbps. You may be able to get gigabit speeds on a Cat5 cable, particularly if the cable is shorter, but it isn't always guaranteed.

Since Cat5 is an older type of cabling, you probably won't see them very much in the store, but you may have gotten some with an older router, switch, or other networking device.

Cat5e: Faster with Less Interference

Category 5 enhanced cabling, also known as Cat5e, is an improvement on Cat5 cabling. It was made to support 1000 Mbps "gigabit" speeds, so in theory, it's faster than Cat5. It it also cuts down on crosstalk, the interference you can sometimes get between wires inside the cable. Both of these improvements mean you're more likely to get fast, reliable speed out of Cat5e cabling compared to Cat5.

Cat6: Even Faster, But Not Super Necessary

Category 6 cabling is the next step up from Cat5e, and includes a few more improvements. It has even stricter specifications when it comes to interference, and in some cases is capable of 10-Gigabit speeds. You probably won't use these speeds in your home, and the extra interference improvements won't make a huge difference in regular ueage, so you don't exactly need to rush out and upgrade to Cat6. But, if you're buying a new cable, you might as well, since it is an improvement over its predecessor

Muhammad Anzar
by Muhammad Anzar , DevOps/DevSecOps Architect , Confidential

Straight Cable

Cross Cable

Serial Console Cable

USB-Serial Console Cable

Muhammad Suleman
by Muhammad Suleman , Instrument Commissioning Supervisor & Technician , Bemco Arabian Contracting pvt Ltd

Common cables that are used for lan is straight and cross over cables.These cables are UTP and STP.Both end are connected with RG45 connector that one side are plugged in computer Lan port and otther end is put into router/hub/switch port.these cables are also used for wan connectivity in router.As in Wan distance is much higher so Optical fiber is used for this.

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