When you need the right type of data wiring, it’s important to understand the different types and solutions. There are several options and they are not all the same. Let’s look at some of the data wiring types and how they work.
Coaxial Cables
A common type of data wiring, coaxial cables were invented in the 188s. They are also known as just coax and are commonly used to connect cable to TVs and home antennas to TVs.
It’s also the standard cable that was used for 10 Mbps Ethernet cables. These cables became popular in the 1980s and 1990s.
Coaxial cables include an inner copper wire with insulation and a second type of shielding. The inner wire can vary in thickness. The stiffness of the wire makes it harder for network administers to maintain thinnet and thicknet, and can make it harder during installation than other data wiring types.
Ethernet Cable Categories
Ethernet cables come in a variety of different options. They are used for network applications and telecommunications. These camas are described by the different categories starting with Cat-1 and going up to Cat-8.
Cat-1 and Cat-2 are not widely used today due to the low max transmission speed and bandwidth. Even Cat-3 isn’t widely used today because it has been superseded by Cat-5 cable.
Cat-5e is a very common type of data wiring used today. It has a higher frequency than Cat-5 cable and extended performance up to 125 Mbps. It can be used for many applications has been tested to a higher specification compared to Cat-5 data wiring.
Another widely used type of ethernet cable is the Cat-6 cable. This cable offers a larger improvement over the Cat-5 and Cat-5e. It’s wound tighter and can also have an outer foil shielding.
Another huge step up has come with the release of Cat-8 Ethernet cables. These cables are more expensive than older versions but expect to handle 25 Gbps to 40 Gbps and a max bandwidth of 2000 MHz They are also shielded like the Cat-6 and Cat-7 ethernet cables.
Fiber Optics
Another type of data wiring used today is fiber optics. This type of network cable uses strands of glass and pulses of light. They are bendable and provide a very useful option in wide-area network installation. If the distance of the underground installation is long, fiber optic data wiring offers a good solution.
Fiber optic cables come in single-mode and multi-mode. They are commonly used for long-distance telecommunications networks with single-mode. Local networks will use multi-mode because it costs less than single-mode.
There are other types of data wiring that have been used throughout the years. Twisted Pair cables used to be popular in the 1990s, but have been phased out, for the most part. The three types of data wiring listed above are more common today than any other option. However, new data wiring types are always being developed for new and better solutions for networking.