Shielded Ethernet Cable—a Good Choice for Deploying Network in High EMI Area

At present, the Ethernet patch cable can be simply divided into shielded Ethernet cable and unshielded Ethernet cable, both of which have their features and advantages. Considering that, is there any difficulty for you to decide which one should be selected for deploying your network? Are you familiar with the two kinds of Ethernet patch cables? Is there any advantage of the shielded Ethernet cable, compare to the traditional unshielded one? In fact, using the shielded Ethernet cable allows for a better performance of your network, especially in the application with high EMI, which will be mainly introduced in the following text.

What Is the Shielded Ethernet Cable?

Shielded Ethernet cable is an enhanced version of unshielded Ethernet cable, which features a shield inside usually made up of copper tape, a layer of conducting polymer or a copper or aluminum braid, with the aim of reducing the EMI (Electromagnetic Interference). Generally, there are several kinds of shielding like braided shield, screening and foil to be applied for each pair in the cable and all pairs together, which makes various shielded Ethernet cables available on the market and popularly used among users, for instance, STP (shielded twisted pair), SSTP (screened shielded twisted pair) and FTP (foil twisted pair) cables. To better know the internal structure of the shielded Ethernet cable, you can learn it from the following figure.

Why Shielded Ethernet Cable Is Used?

It is well known that EMI, also referred to as FRI (radio frequency interference), can be produced by an external source affecting an electrical circuit by electrostatic coupling, electromagnetic induction, or conduction when the data is transmitted in our network. If the EMI is very high in your network, the data transmission errors may occur. Then how to ensure your network performance?

In general, the external source can be made by natural sources like sun and thunder storms or man-made sources like vehicle ignition systems and cell phones, which would exist in our everyday life and cannot be avoided. Taking this into account, we can only turn to other solution to directly reduce or avoid the EMI for ensure the transmission quality of our network. At first, the Ethernet cable with unshielded feature is designed with twisted pairs inside the cable to reduce the EMI, which performs not very good and doesn’t meet our expectation. Fortunately, experts soon put forward another method to resolve the issue—the shielded Ethernet cable, as one of the most used solution to protect our network from EMI.

What Are the Differences Between Shielded and Unshielded Ethernet Cable?

First and foremost, the shielded Ethernet cable performs better than the unshielded Ethernet cable in reducing the EMI, which greatly ensures the the data transmission quality of the devices most commonly used in buildings, such as microwave equipment, HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) systems and radio transmitters. It also has the ability to decrease the interference generated from devices like power tools and vacuum cleaners. Moreover, using the shielded Ethernet cable can prevent the signals from passing through the outer coating and entering nearby wires by accident for its special shielded structure, hence the crosstalk in the network can be reduced or even avoided.

In contrast to the unshielded Ethernet cable, there are also some disadvantages for the shielded Ethernet cable that should be paid attention to when choosing the Ethernet patch cable. Firstly, choosing the shielded Ethernet cable to deploy your network will cost higher than the unshielded one. Because both the manufacturing cost of itself and its related device for network deployment are more expensive than that of the unshielded one. Secondly, due to its complicate, shielded feature, you should pay more time and money for the installation and maintenance. And it would be difficult to restored if it is damaged because the shielding is quite fragile and rigid. Thirdly, the shielded Ethernet cable is more thicker that makes itself not so flexible as the unshielded one. If you should deploy the network in narrow space, the shielded Ethernet cable has no advantage over the unshielded one.

Conclusion

The shielded Ethernet cable is really a cost effective solution for the applications where the EMI is very high, which can greatly improve your network performance and extend the life span of your equipment. Although it costs much higher than the unshielded one, is more difficult to install and maintain, and is not so flexible, it can perform better to reduce the EMI when put into use. Beside, the unshielded Ethernet cable is still recommended for you if the EMI around your network is not a risk.

Mismatching Cases Between Cables and Patch Panels

Can Cat 5e Work with Cat 6 Patch Panel or Cat 6 Work with Cat 5e Patch Panel?

There is no doubt that the Cat 5e patch panel always works with the Cat 5e cable, while the Cat 6 patch panel is specially designed to manage the Cat 6 cable for a neat, secure and well organized network. However, have you ever met the condition that the old Cat 5e cable should be work with the new Cat 6 patch panel or the old Cat 5e patch panel should be used to manage the new Cat 6 cable because you only changed one of the two devices into a new one? Did they still perform well? Not any compatible issue? Or work badly for the mismatching problem? The following will discuss about the differences between Cat 5e and Cat 6 cable, and the differences between Cat 5e and Cat 6 patch panel, then explore these two mismatching cases for the answers.

Differences Between Cat 5e and Cat 6 Cable

Firstly, as the Cat 6 cable consists of 23 AWG copper conductors but Cat 5e cable is made up of 24 AWG copper conductors, the diameter of Cat 5e cable is smaller than that of Cat 6 cable. Meanwhile, there is the spline between each pair of wires in Cat 6 cable that separates one pair of wires from one another, as shown in the figure below. All these two factors make the Cat 5e cable thinner than Cat 6 cable. Besides, Cat 5e cable is specially applied in 100Base-T and 1000Base-T network, while Cat 6 cable is more suitable for 1000Base-T network and supports the 10GBase-T network at lengths up to 37 meters. Hence, if the data transmission speed in your network is very low, there should be no difference in performance between Cat 5e and Cat 6 cable. But if high speed is required, which one to be chosen should depend on the network demand.

Differences Between Cat 5e and Cat 6 Patch Panel

Since there is a difference in the wire gauge specified between Cat5e and Cat6 cable, their corresponding patch panels are different accordingly, which should be paid attention to in the mismatching cases. What’s more, the data transmission speed is also different, because the Cat 5e patch panel always works in Fast Ethernet network and the Cat 6 patch panel is highly recommendable to support the Gigabit Ethernet network.

Using Cat 5e Cable with Cat 6 Patch Panel

As mentioned above, the Cat 5e cable is thinner than the Cat 6 cable. As a result, when we use Cat 5e cable with the Cat 6 patch panel, can it perform well? Will it be too loose? If you make a experiment, you’ll find that it can work normally in this case. Why? Although the Cat 6 individual twisted pairs insulated is usually thicker than Cat 5e, this is usually not a problem with termination, but with how many cables you can stuff through a piece of conduit. Hence, Cat 5e cable can work normally on the Cat 6 patch panel but may be a loose connection. What should be noted is the network performance. Since Cat 5e cable works with Cat 6 patch panel in this case, the performance of the network can only reach the maximum performance of Cat 5e cable.

Using Cat 6 Cable with Cat 5e Patch Panel

Except for the case we have already discuss, you may also encounter with the case that the Cat 6 cable should work with the Cat 5e patch panel. Although the diameter of the Cat 6 cable is larger than that of Cat 5e cable, it is still able to work without effect on the performance of the cable and patch panel if you use the Cat 6 cable with Cat 5e patch panel. As for the network performance, the fact is that the Cat 6 cable is backward compatible with Cat 5e feature. Hence, there is no need to worry for using the Cat 6 cable with the Cat 5e patch panel. But you are still suggested to upgrade your patch panel to a Cat 6 type, just in case.

Conclusion

From this paper, it is easy to learn that both the Cat 5e cable can work with the Cat 6 patch panel and the Cat 6 can work with the Cat 5e patch panel. However, both are not recommended for the following reasons. If you are in the first case, then you are suggested to use a Cat 5e patch panel to manage the Cat 5e cable, which is less expensive can performs better than the Cat 6 patch panel. Meanwhile, in the second case, when punching down the Cat 6 cable on a Cat5e panel, the larger wire may end up bending or even breaking.

In-Depth Study of Cat 5e, Cat 6 and Cat 6a Patch Panel

With the complication of your network, do you have the trouble that the patch cables deployed in your network are always in a mess? If yes, you are suggested to use the patch panel for better cabling management. Since the copper patch panel can be available at a less expensive cost than fiber patch panel but can also perform well in managing the cables in your network, it is a good choice for you to choose copper patch panel for deploying a neat, fast and secure network.

At present, there are three commonly used types of copper patch panels designed with different aims, Cat 5e, Cat 6 and Cat 6a patch panel, both of which have their own features and advantages. To better know these three kinds of copper patch panels, the following will mainly introduce their basic information, which may help you select one of the most suitable patch panel for deploying your network.

What Is the Cat 5e Patch Panel?

Cat 5e patch panel, always used for Fast Ethernet network, is made up of steel materials that is compliant with TIA/EIA 568 industry specification. For the advantage of steel materials, it can work well even in the most extreme conditions. Meanwhile, it is equipped with individual, fully modular printed circuit boards (PCBs) and a rear cable manager. In general, the Cat 5e patch panel is designed with 6-port and 8-port module grouping that may have 8, 12, 24 or 48 ports totally. With this high density design, it has the ability to greatly save the valuable rack space, maximize the performance of your network and keep up with the growing changes of your network.

What Is the Cat 6 Patch Panel?

To face the increasing demand of the network, Cat 6 patch panel is specially designed for 1 Gigabit Ethernet network, which has already meet or even exceeded the TIA/EIA 568 industry specification. As for its wiring configurations, the Cat 6 patch panel can be provided with both T-568A and T-568B wiring scheme on the market. Furthermore, it is always terminated with the standard 110 termination tools on the rear, allowing for quick installation. In contrast with Cat 5e patch panel, it can be also configured with 6-port or 8-port modules, but available with more ports, such as, 12, 24, 48, and 96 ports. All in all, this kind of patch panel supports easier cabling management and saves more data center rack space.

What Is the Cat 6a Patch Panel?

CAT6a patch panel is an advanced kind of copper patch panel, published with the aim of meeting the requirements of 10 Gigabit Ethernet network. For this purpose, it offers usable bandwidth beyond 250MHz and exceeds the TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1 component, the permanent link and the channel level performance specifications. What should be noted is that it also can be backward compatible with lower level cabling systems. Compared with the previous two kinds of copper patch panel, this one has the enhanced front and rear labeling features for easy circuit identification. In addition, T568A and T568B wiring configurations are also available for this kind patch panel, which can be easily recognized by the color-coded wiring label.

Nowadays, there are various kinds of CAT6a patch panels with different amounts of ports, varying from 12 to 96 ports. Among these kinds of CAT6a patch panels, the patch panels with 24- and 48-port are very popular that provides the maximum strength and durability and eliminates panel flex during termination. Besides, there are port labeling areas and port numbering in these kinds of patch panels, which makes the circuit identification easier.

Conclusion

From this paper, it is easy to conclude that the Cat 5e patch panel is specially designed for Fast Ethernet network, while the Cat 6 patch panel is more suitable for 1 Gigabit Ethernet network. If you want to upgrade your network to 10 Gigabit Ethernet network, then the CAT6a patch panel must be a good choice for you. For better cabling management, choosing the most suitable patch panel is really important that can help you deploy a neat, fast and secure network and greatly ensure the performance of your network.

Cat6a Ethernet Cable—an Augmented Version of Cat6 Ethernet Cable

Due to the growing requirements of the network, the data transmission speed of the Ethernet network has constantly increased, from initially 100 megabits per second in Fast Ethernet network to 1 gigabit per second in Gigabit Ethernet network, even to 10 gigabits per second in 10 Gigabit Ethernet network nowadays. With the appearance and popularity of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet network, the performance of the Ethernet cable for the network connection was also needed to be improved, which brought a big challenge for the traditional Ethernet cable.

In order to face the challenge, the Cat6a Ethernet cable was published with the efforts of the experts, designed on the basis of the Cat6 Ethernet cable and specially used for 10 Gigabit Ethernet network connection. To better know about the Cat6a Ethernet cable, let’s compare the Cat6a Ethernet cable with the Cat6 Ethernet cable and find the advantages and disadvantages of the Cat6a Ethernet cable.

Cat6a Ethernet Cable Overview

Cat6a Ethernet cable, also referred to as Cat6a cable or Cat6a patch cable, is a standardized twisted pair cable, commonly used for 10 Gigabit application. It is easy to learn that the letter “a” in its name stands for “augmented”, hence the Cat6a Ethernet cable is an improved version of the Cat6 Ethernet cable, which greatly improves the alien crosstalk characteristics. Meanwhile, it is more thicker than Cat6 Ethernet cable, making itself more durable. When the Cat6 Ethernet cable is put into use, it has the ability to perform up to 500 MHz, allowing 10GBASE-T to be run for 100 meter distance. It is really an optimize cable solution for 10GBASE-T network.

Cat6a Ethernet Cable Advantages

As we all know, the Ethernet cable can be divided into two types. The one is shielded twisted pair (STP) and the other is unshielded twisted pair (UTP). Compared to the unshielded Ethernet cable, the shielded one always has one or more additional jackets surrounding the inner twisted wire pairs for insulation, protecting the Ethernet cable from electromagnetic interference (EMI). As for the Cat6a Ethernet cable and the Cat6 Ethernet cable, both of them can be shielded or unshielded. But if you purchase in the store, you’ll find that the Cat6a shielded Ethernet cable is more common while Cat6 Ethernet cable is always with unshielded feature.

The second advantage is that the Cat6a Ethernet cable can transmit 10G signals for a longer transmission distance. For the Cat6 Ethernet cable, it is more commonly used in the applications where the data transmission rate is 10, 100 or 1000 Mbps, with the distance up to 100 meters. But if the data transmission rate is increased to 10 Gbps, it can only support the transmission with the distance up to 55 meters. What’s worse, if it works in a high crosstalk environment, the maximum transmission distance can only be 33 meters. Considering that both the speed and the crosstalk have bad effects on the transmission distance of Cat6 Ethernet cable, Cat6a Ethernet cable has great improvements in these two aspects which can support the 10G Ethernet network with the distance over 100 meters, even if working in the application with high crosstalk.

Furthermore, the higher durability is also an important advantage of the Cat6a Ethernet cable. How to achieve this? As we know, when laying the cables on the trays, highly bending the cables will damage the wiring and influence network performance. As the Cat6 Ethernet cable is thinner than the Cat6a Ethernet cable, it is easier to be bent. Hence, the Cat6a Ethernet cable is much more durable than the Cat6 Ethernet cable for its bulkier structure when used for the network deployment.

Cat6a Ethernet Cable Disadvantages

After knowing the advantages of the Cat6a Ethernet cable, it is also necessary to talk about its disadvantages, providing a comprehensive knowledge for this kind of cable. The first disadvantage you should take into account is the cost issue. There is no denying that the cost of the Cat6a Ethernet cable is much higher than Cat6 Ethernet cable. Meanwhile, the cost of its matched connection components is another important issue that determines the whole connection cost. Except for the high cost issue, big diameter is another disadvantage for cabling. As the Cat6a Ethernet cable is thicker and heavier than the Cat6 Ethernet cable, the cable tray can not hold as many Cat6a Ethernet cables as the Cat6 Ethernet cables.

Conclusion

The Cat6a Ethernet cable is an improved version of the Cat6 Ethernet cable, which greatly improves the alien crosstalk characteristics, supports the 10G Ethernet network with longer transmission distance and higher performance, and has a much higher durability to avoid bending too much. On the other hand, it will be much more expensive and take up more space in the cable tray if you choose Cat6a Ethernet cable to deploy the network. Hence, you should consider all the factors before deploying the network.

28 AWG Copper Cable Solution

When designing the wired network, you may hesitate in making a decision about which kind of network patch cable should be chosen as there are more and more kinds of network patch cables published and available on the market day by day. In this paper, it will highly recommend you to choose a new kind of network patch cable, the 28 AWG (American wire gauge) copper cable, to deploy your wired network, which has the ability to reduce the cabling congestion. To get a deep understanding of this kind of network patch cable, the following will mainly introduce its basic information and analyze why it is so popular among users, which may help you make a better informed decision and avoid the costly network mistakes.

What Is the 28 AWG Copper Cable?

28 AWG copper cable is composed of eight 28 AWG copper conductors that has a much thinner diameter than that of the typical patch cable made up of 23 or 24 AWG copper conductors, aiming at reducing or easing the cabling congestion. For this purpose, it brings great benefits in cable manageability and aesthetics that quickly becomes a viable solution for users to deal with the cabling congestion issues in patch cable areas. To better acquire the structure of the 28 AWG copper cable, here offers a figure that shows the structural differences between the 28 AWG copper cable and the typical patch cable in external and internal aspects.

What should be paid attention to is that the 28 AWG cabling is still not in the TIA/IEEE standards for data communications, although it becomes more and more commonly used nowadays. However, since the 28 AWG copper cable offers several advantages as a desirable cable infrastructure solution, there is no doubt that it will be adopted into the standards sooner or later.

Why Is the 28 AWG Copper Cable So Popular?

With the fast development of the network, the high density cabling plays a much more important role in data centers than ever before to face the constantly growing requirement. Under this condition, the 28 AWG copper cable becomes more and more popularly used as an ideal cabling solution that makes a great contribution to ease the cabling congestion.

In fact, there are two main reasons that makes the 28 AWG copper cable so popular among users. The one reason is its smaller size. Compared to the typical patch cable, the 28 AWG copper cable has a much smaller diameter, thereby it can offer 50% less cordage. Moreover, the advantage of smaller size enables better air flow, less clutter in front of switches and patch panels. Another reason is that the 28 AWG copper cable has a higher flexibility that makes the cable management easier due to its reduced diameter.

Which Factors Should Be Considered?

While there are many benefits by using the 28 AWG copper cable, they are also some factors that you should consider if you choose this kind of network patch cable to deploy your network.

The first factor is the transmission distance. As we know, the more the heat is transmitted through the patch cables, the shorter the transmission distance will be. Since there is a reduced diameter in the 28 AWG copper cable, it would be more susceptible to intrinsic loss caused by the heat and adversely affect the transmission distance.

The second factor is the heat and resistance. Generally, the copper cable with smaller diameter has more resistance which would result in the increased heat. That’s to say, when the electricity passes through the resistance, the energy will be dissipated in the form of the increased heat that has an adverse effect on data transmission. You must ensure that there is not too much heat in the 28 AWG copper cable, or the data transmission will be failed.

The third factor is the connector that the 28 AWG copper cable requires. It should be specially designed to match with the 28 AWG copper cable that has smaller diameter. This ensures a proper crimp and strain relief so the assembly would work while in use.

Conclusion

From this paper, it can be concluded that the 28 AWG copper cable requires less cordage, allows for better air flow, less clutter in front of switches and patch panels, and better cable management. The 28 AWG copper cable is really an ideal solution to ease the cabling congestion issue, which is high recommended to deploy the high density network. In addition, before putting this kind of network patch cable into use, you’d better to take the three factors mentioned above into consideration.

Using the Patch Panel to Deploy a Neat Cabling Network

Although most of Ethernet networks are deployed in a wireless manner, the wired network is still strongly recommended for those who want to have fast network speed that is much closer to the promised maximum. Are you enjoying the wired network? Or do you have any plan to set up a wired network for the high speed network? If the answer is yes, then you may lack a kind of patch panel that enables better cabling management. Are you familiar with this kind of functional unit applied in the wired network? In this paper, it will describe the basic knowledge of the patch panel and instruct you to fast and correctly install the patch panel for a simple, neat and easy-to-manage cabling network.

What Is the Patch Panel?

The patch panel, a crucial unit in the wired network, serves as a central location for monitoring and connecting circuits, which allows for the cable termination and plays an important role in transmitting the signals to the final destination. If the patch panel is not used in your network or there is something wrong in the patch panel, your network would hardly work. Hence, it is also called the “nerve center” for a cabling network. Since the patch panel offers single location for each input jack, it can work well for connecting a variety of devices, thereby usually used in the industry that requires extensive sound equipment.

Nowadays, there are various patch panels published and available on the market, including 24 port cat5e patch panel, 48 port cat5e patch panel, 24 port cat6 patch panel, etc. To get a visual knowledge about the appearance of patch panel, here offers a figure that shows an example of 24 port cat5e patch panel.

How Does the Patch Panel Work?

From the figure above, you can easily find that there are multiple network ports together in one patch panel for connecting incoming and outgoing lines—including those for local area networks, electronics, electrical systems and communications. Once using the patch panel in a LAN, the computer can be connected to another computer in the LAN or to the outside lines. Meanwhile, it also enables the LAN to connect to wide area network or to the Internet. Is it very convenient? Just plug and unplug the appropriate patch cords to the patch panel, then you’ll get a smooth wired network and easily manage the patch cords in the network. In addition, as the patch panel offers single location for each input jack, the troubleshooting problem of the network can be done fast and simply.

What Should Be Noted in Installing the Patch Panel?

Although the installation of the patch panel seems to be relatively easy, professionalism and carefulness are required indeed to ensure a correct installation and an effective connection. Therefore, here list several notes that you should pay attention to in the patch panel installing process. Firstly, the terminations are sometimes very tight that may cause a difficult cable management, thereby a particular technique is needed to manage the cables. Secondly, you should ensue that the grass in the fiber is not excessively moved in the installing process, or the signals in adjacent fibers would be affected. Thirdly, the bend radius is another important factor that you should attach importance to when installing the fiber optic cables to the patch panel.

Conclusion

The patch panel, the “nerve center” of a wired network, is a highly functional unit that allows for the cable termination and plays an important role in transmitting the signals to the final destination. Knowing about its basic information, its working principle and the notes for patch panel installation would instruct you to make a simple, neat and easy-to-manage cabling network. Do you want to set up a high speed wired network as mentioned above? You can get the related equipment like cat5e patch panel, cat6 patch panel from FS.COM.

Cat 7 Patch Cable—an Ideal Solution for Ethernet Cabling

When we talk about “future proofing” in electronic industry, we’ll find it difficult to define it as the technology and science changes so fast to meet the constantly growing needs. We used to regarded the cat 5e, cat 6 and cat 6a patch cable as “future proofing”, while cat 7 patch cable deserves the name in recent years and the real “future proofing” may be cat 8, cat 9 or even cat 10 patch cable in the near future. In this paper, it will mainly introduce the information of cat 7 patch cable—an ideal solution for Ethernet cabling in today’s electronic industry, which is worth the extra cost for the Ethernet network deployment.

Cat 7 Patch Cable Overview

Cat 7 patch cable is also referred to as category 7 patch cable, which was first published in 2002 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It is also known as Class F cabling, used for the cabling infrastructure of 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet, or GbE) and 10GBASE-T (10-Gigabit Ethernet, or 10 GbE) networks. In comparison with the preceding patch cable like cat 5e, cat 6 and cat 6a patch cable, it has the ability to support the 10GBASE-T network at lengths up to 100 meters and operate at 600 MHz due to the fully shielded structure of its twisted wire pairs, which achieves a higher performance. In short, cat 7 patch cable is strongly recommended for Ethernet cabling as an ideal solution.

Is the Cat 7 Patch Cable Cost Effective?

As the twisted wire pairs of cat 7 patch cable is fully shielded, it is also called Screen Shielded Twisted Pair (SSTP) or Screened Foiled Twisted Pair (SFTP) wiring, which almost completely eliminates alien crosstalk while significantly improving noise resistance. But considering that the price of one device is always measured by its performance, there is no doubt that cat 7 patch cable is a more expensive solution for network deployment. Do you wondering whether it is worth the extra cost? Is there any significant difference in contrast to the preceding patch cable like cat 6 and cat 6a patch cable? Does it perform much higher? Let’s talk about this topic.

In general, the cat 6 patch cable is always used to support 1000BASE-T network that can also transmit 10G signals at 250 MHz with the lengths up to 55 meters. By contrast, the cat 6a patch cable is more commonly used for 10GBASE-T network, which is capable of transmitting the signals with a maximum length of 100 meters and operating at 500 MHz. As for the cat 7 patch cable, it is a better choice for 10GBASE-T network that operates at speeds of 10 Gb/s with 100 meters and transmits the frequencies up to 600 Mhz, as mentioned above. Except these data, it is also estimated that the cat 6 patch cable can only be used for ten years although it is relatively cheaper than cat 7 patch cable. But the cat 7 patch cable does have a 15-year lifecycle, which would greatly increase its overall return on investment (ROI).

Conclusion

After comparison and analysis, it is easy to learn that the cat 7 patch cable, an ideal solution for Ethernet network deployment, owns even more strict specifications for crosstalk and system noise for its individual wire pairs are fully shielded. In contrast to cat5 and cat6, the cat 7 patch cable is more expensive but offers much higher performance and more durable lifecycle, which really pays off. In addition, the compatible issue can be almost neglected if you choose the cat 7 patch cable because it is backwards compatible with the traditional cat5 and cat6 patch cable.

What Is the Crossover Cable?

There is no doubt that the straight through cable has a high performance in the applications where two different types of devices need to be connected, for instance, the connection between a computer and a network switch or hub. However, if two devices that have the same type are required to be connected, the straight through cable is no longer recommended. Then which kind of cable should you choose? The answer is the crossover cable, which is designed to connect two similar devices together directly. Are you familiar with this kind of Ethernet patch cable? Let’s explore the basic information of the crossover cable and when and where it should be used.

The Crossover Cable Overview

The crossover cable is also known as the crossed cable, supporting the temporary host-to-host networking in situations where an intermediate device like a network router is not present. Although the crossover cable is a common type of Ethernet patch cable like the straight through cable, it is not so popularly applied as the the latter one. Meanwhile, its function is also unlike that of the straight through cable, usually offering the connection between two similar devices as the simplest and fastest way. Furthermore, it is capable of reversing the transmit and receive signals via the reversed color-coded wires inside the cable.

To better understand the internal reversed color-coded wires of the crossover cable, you can learn it from the RI45 jacks at each side of the cable, as shown in the following figure. From the figure, you can the wire arrangement of the straight through cable can be TIA/EIA 568A or T568B standard with an identical sequence of colored wires on each side of the cable, while the wire arrangement in the crossover cable is reserved like TIA/EIA 568A or T568B crossed standard, for instance, counting from left to right, the first and third wires crossed, the second and sixth wires crossed, the third and first wires crossed, etc.

The Crossover Cable Advantages

Generally, if you want to deploy a Ethernet network at home with multiple PCs, you should connect all the computers to a central router first. Then the router can take all the bits being sent out by the computers and relay them onto the other devices on the network. Is this way of Ethernet network deployment complicated? Can the crossover cable make the deployment easier? Is there any other advantage by using the crossover cable?

In fact, you can use the crossover cable to connect two computers directly, without the help of the router. Using the crossover cable to deploy your network can simply reverse some of the pins so that the output on one computer is being sent to the input of another, instead of choosing the traditional deployment. Except that, expanding your network by connecting another network switch is another advantage of using the crossover cable, thereby more ports can be provided to you. In all, it’s always convenient to own a length of crossover cable for easy Ethernet network deployment.

The Crossover Cable Applications

In the 1990s and 2000s, the popular Ethernet network deployment cannot support the direct cable connection between the hosts. Under the situation, the crossover cable was published to solve the issue that was widely used by Information Technology (IT) at that time. But now most of the network devices have the ability to automatically detect when a port should be run in cross-over mode, or give you a physical switch that you can use to enable the mode. Considering that, do you still need a crossover cable?

Actually, you should use the crossover cable for your network if you are working with the old hardware. Moreover, if quick connection between two computers in a network-less environment is required, you are also strongly suggested to choose the crossover cable.

Conclusion

The crossover cable is one common type of Ethernet patch cable, serving for the direct connection between two devices with the same type. As its function is clearly different from the straight through cable, can you tell the two types of Ethernet patch cables? In fact, most of the crossover cables are generally red in color and stamped with its name "crossover" on the packaging and wire casing. Besides, if there is no mark to distinguish them, you can simply check the wire colors inside the RJ45 jack at both side of the cable. When the wire colors at both side are in the same order, it is a straight through cable; Otherwise, it should be a crossover cable.