Networking Page 5


	I feel the need....the need for speed.

Why a Ferrari? Why not a VW microbus? Ok, other than chicks.

What is 0-60 clock times in cars is Megabits per second (Mbps) in networking. This chart here gives you the skinny on the specs.


	It will be a good day when we all have fiber running into our homes. It is unfortunate that it is a long way off. Fiber is very expensive, very hard to install and is not as durable as you think. If you bend fiber past its maximum bend radius the core can be damaged.

Cable Type	Cost	Capacity	Range	EMI
Coax Thinnet	<STP	10Mbps	185m	<sensitive than UTP
Coax Thicknet	>STP, <Fiber	10Mbps	500m	<sensitive than UTP
STP	>UTP, <Thicknet	500Mbps	100m	<sensitive than UTP
UTP	Low	155Mbps	100m	Sensitive
Fiber	High	200,000Mbps	Miles	Not Affected

Some people have said that some breeds of fiber optic cables have never had their capacity rated because the most powerful computers in the world could not put enough data through to hit the fiber's ceiling. It just makes us all very sick to think about.

It is a common misconception that because fiber uses light it is faster. This is not the case. Copper transmissions travel at near-light speed and that's quite fast enough. The limitation of copper lies in how the electrons move across the wire. Electrons stay at the circumference of the wire only forming a ring of information. Fiber uses the entire core of the wire forming a filled disc of information. Thus, a fiber cable is very thin compared to a slower copper cable.

So what if we all can't afford fiber? There are plenty fast options available, don't fret. UTP CAT5 Cabling will run at 100Mbps. Does this mean you can download 100 megabytes a second? Not quite. A megabit is not the same as a megabyte. Hard disk space and file sizes are typically measured in megabytes. Network transmission is typically measured in megabits. There are 8 bits in a byte, so 100Mbps=12.5 megs/second. That 12,500.00 K/sec. This speed is usually enough to fulfill any need.

That's all for now. If you have found this tutorial useful, contact me and I will continue on into ISP options and implementation practices that will bring your network out onto the World Wide Web.


			Page 5
		Page 1 - Introduction Page 2 - A little history Page 3 - OSI - not 'Oh Sports Illustrated!' Page 4 - Media Page 5 - I feel the need....the need for speed.