Coaxial Cable
| Category | Standard | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| ThinNet | 10Base2 | 200 meters |
| ThickNet | 10Base5 | 500 meters |
Twisted Pair Cable
It uses “xx Base T” naming convention
xx: Speed of the cable
Base: Baseband communication (Single Frequency)
T: Twisted Pair
| Category | Common Name | Standard | Bandwidth | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAT 3 | Ethernet | 10Base-T | 10 Mbps | 100 meters |
| CAT 5 | Fast Ethernet | 100Base-TX | 100 Mbps | 100 meters |
| CAT 5e | Gigabit Ethernet | 1000Base-T | 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) | 100 meters |
| CAT 6 | Gigabit Ethernet | 1000Base-T | 1 Gbps | 100 meters |
| CAT 6 | 10 Gigabit Ethernet | 10GBase-T | 10 Gbps | 55 meters |
| CAT 6a | 10 Gigabit Ethernet | 10GBase-T | 10 Gbps | 100 meters |
| CAT 7 | 10 Gigabit Ethernet | 10GBase-T | 10 Gbps | 100 meters |
| CAT 8 | 40 Gigabit Ethernet | 40GBase-T | 40 Gbps | 30 meters |
Only CAT 5 cables use TX to represent Twisted Pair Cable
CAT 7 was released before CAT 6a and it supported using RJ-45 or Tera Connector
Fiber Optic Cable
| Standard | Mode | Bandwidth | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100Base-FX | MMF | 100 Mbps | 2 kms |
| 100Base-SX | MMF | 100 Mbps | 300 meters |
| 1000Base-SX | MMF | 1000 Mbps | 220-550 meters |
| 1000Base-LX | SMF/MMF | 1000 Mbps | 5 kms/550 meters |
| 10GBase-SR | MMF | 10 Gbps | 400 meters |
| 10GBase-LR | SMF | 10 Gbps | 10 kms |
100Base-FX uses wavelength in the range used by SMF which allows it to transfer data for such large distances
100Base-SX uses a shorter wavelength and LED as its light source making it cheaper to manufacture
1000Base-SX uses nanometer near infrared wavelengths
1000Base-LX uses long range lasers as its light source
SR stands for Short Reach
LR stands for Long Reach