Page 58 - Handout Computer Network.

Commonly used types of UTP cabling are as follows:

• Category 1 (CAT 1)—Used for telephone communications. Not suitable for
transmitting data.
• Category 2 (CAT 2)—Capable of transmitting data at speeds up to 4 Mbps.

• Category 3 (CAT 3)—Used in 10BASET Ethernet networks. Can transmit data at
speeds up to 10 Mbps.

• Category 4 (CAT 4)—Used in Token Ring networks. Can transmit data at speeds
up to 16 Mbps.
• Category 5 (CAT 5)—Can transmit data at speeds up to 100 Mbps. Used in Fast
Ethernet networks.

• Category 5e (CAT 5e)—Used in networks running at speeds up to 1000 Mbps
(1 Gbps). Used in Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) networks.
• Category 6 (CAT 6)—The specification for CAT 6 is new, was released on
February 3, 2003, and is currently available for installation and use. Used in
Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) networks.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgOkvIHKgXQ

3.3 Optical Media

Optical fiber is the most frequently used medium for the longer, high bandwidth,
pointto-point transmissions required on LAN backbones and on wide-area networks (WANs).

Total Internal Reflection A light ray that is being turned on and off to send data 1s and
0s into an optical fiber must stay inside the fiber until it reaches the far end. The ray must not
refract into the material wrapped around the outside of the fiber because such refraction
causes the loss of part of the ray’s light energy. A design for the fiber that makes the outside
surface of the fiber act like a mirror to the light ray moving through the fiber must be achieved.
If any light ray that tries to move out through the side of the fiber is reflected back into the
fiber at an angle that sends it towards the far end of the fiber, this is a good pipe or wave guide
for the light waves, as illustrated in Figure 3-4.

Figure 3-4 shown a wave guide for the light waves Structure

3.3.1 Fiber-Optic Cables

Fiber-optic cable is a networking medium that uses modulated light for data
transmissions through thin strands of glass. Signals that represent data bits are converted into
beams of light. It is important to recognize that while electricity is required to generate and
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