Why we are using the unshielded twisted pair cabling

[chandra_rc16]

Hi all,

I'm learning about the physical media for ethernet. I wanna know why we are using the unshielded twisted pair cabling?

Regards,
Chandu       

Regards,
Chandu       

[chandra_rc16]

Please put in your opinion on this.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Chandu

[Peter Paluch]

Chandu,

I do not think there is any single or simple answer to this.

The coaxial cabling was superior to twisted pair (TP) in terms of reach, signal degradation, attenuation, noise immunity, but it did not provide a means for full-duplex communication (there were just two conductors - the central wire and the shielding braid) and was awkward to install and handle.

Ethernet most probably started looking to use TP cabling because it was becoming more and more popular at the time, and many other communication technologies could also be used over it: ATM, Token Ring, ISDN, plain phone, to say the least. With just one structured cabling installation in your building, you could use any of these technologies on the existing TP cabling, including Ethernet.

Best regards,

Peter

[Martin Carr]

It depends on what context you mean?

Originally Coaxial cable was used, this only has a pair of conductors, meaning only half duplex transmission was possible, in addition the maximum speed is 10 MB/S, which you would never get in reality, this also applies to any unswitched network, but this is outside the scope of what you want to know.

STP (Shielded Twisted Pair) is used when the cabling would be subject to EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference) this would be generated from a motor for example.

Martin