Network Maintenance and Troubleshooting Guide: Field-Tested Solutions for Everyday Problems, Second Editon

Chapter 2. Copper Media

This chapter describes issues related to installing and testing copper physical media for use in local area networks, primarily twisted-pair cabling. The OSI Model places the medium as being below the Physical Layer (see Figure 2-1). Each individual implementation of Ethernet specifies parameters for the intended medium, but usually references other cable related standards as part of that description. This chapter and Chapter 3, “Fiber Optic Media,” are about the medium itself (copper and fiber, respectively).

Figure 2-1. Copper and fiber optic media in relation to the OSI Model

Standards

Until the release of ANSI/TIA/EIA’s ...