3.1. Physical Media

A lot of us rely on wireless networking methods that work using technologies like radio frequency and infrared, but even wireless depends on a physical media backbone in place somewhere. And the majority of installed LANs today communicate via some kind of cabling, so let's take a look at the three types of popular cables used in modern networking designs:

  • Coaxial

  • Twisted pair

  • Fiber optic

3.1.1. Coaxial Cable

Coaxial cable, referred to as coax, contains a center conductor made of copper that's surrounded by a plastic jacket, with a braided shield over it. A plastic such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or fluoroethylenepropylene (FEP, commonly known as Teflon) covers this metal shield. The Teflon-type covering is frequently referred ...

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