Cabling

Cable is the medium through which information usually moves
from one network device to another. Several types of cable are
commonly used with LANs.In some cases,a network will utilize only one type of cable, other networks will use a variety of cable types.There are four types of cables namely :

1.      Unshielded Twiested Pair (UTP) 
2.      Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) 
3.      Coaxial Cable
4.      Fiber Optic Cable
5.      Wireless LANs

      Unshielded Twiested Pair  (UTP)

•   four pairs of wires inside the jacket
•    each pair is twisted with different twist per   inch to help eliminate  interference from adjacent pairs and other electrical devices.

 Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) 

•  consists of two individual wires wrapped in a foil shielding to help provide a more reliable data communication. 
• suitable for environments with electrical interference but the extra shielding can make the cables quite bulky. 
• often used on networks using Token Ring topology.

Coaxial Cable

• Coaxial cabling has a single copper conductor at its center. 
• A plastic layer provides insulation between the center conductor and a braided metal shield. 
• The metal shield helps to block any outside interference from fluorescent lights, motors, and    other computers.
• The most common type of connector   used with coaxial cables is the Bayone-Neill-Concelman (BNC) connector. 

• Fiber Optic Cable  consists of a center glass core surrounded by several layers of protective materials and transmits light rather than electronic signals eliminating the problem of electrical interference. 
• Fiber Optic Cable is ideal for certain environments that contain a large amount of electrical interference. 
• It is able to transmit signals over much longer distances than coaxial and twisted pair.

Summary of Ethernet cabling 

10BaseT : Unshielded Twisted Pair : 100 meters

10Base2 : Thin Coaxial : 185 meters

10Base5 : Thick Coaxial : 500 meters

10BaseF : Fiber Optic : 2000 meters'