Chapter 7. Copper Cable Media

Although optical fiber cabling continues to make inroads toward becoming the cabling medium of choice for horizontal cable (cable to the desktop), copper-based cabling, specifically unshielded twisted-pair (UTP), is still more popular. This is mainly due to the fact that networking devices required to support copper cabling are inexpensive compared with their fiber-optic counterparts. Cost is almost always the determining factor when deciding whether to install copper or optical fiber cable—unless you have a high-security or really high-bandwidth requirement, in which case optical fiber becomes more desirable.

This chapter will focus on the use of Category 5e and Category 6 UTP cable for data and telecommunications ...

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