1.3. Physical Media

Although it is possible to use several forms of wireless networking, such as radio frequency and infrared, the majority of installed LANs today communicate via some sort of cable. In the following sections, we'll look at three types of cables:

  • Coaxial

  • Twisted pair

  • Fiber optic

1.3.1. Coaxial Cable

Coaxial cable (or coax) contains a center conductor, made of copper, surrounded by a plastic jacket, with a braided shield over the jacket. A plastic such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or fluxoroethylenepropylene (FEP, such as DuPont's Teflon) covers this metal shield. The Teflon-type covering is frequently referred to as a plenum-rated coating. That simply means that the coating doesn't begin burning until a much higher temperature, ...

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