Cable and Connector Types

There are four major types of network cables:

  • Unshielded twisted pair (UTP)

  • Shielded twisted pair (STP)

  • Fiber-optic

  • Coaxial

Infrared (IR) ports built into many notebook computers can also be used with direct cable connection.

Network cards are designed to interface with one or more types of network cables.

Serial (RS-232) null modem and parallel (LPT) crossover cables can be used with direct cable connection, which is a special type of two-station network included in Windows that uses standard network protocols but does not use network cards.

UTP and STP Cabling

Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling is the most common of ...

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