1. Twisted Pair Cables :
- Twisted pair cables have been around for a long time.
- Twisted pair is a widely used medium in networking because it's lighter, cheaper, more flexible, easy to install, and provides greater speeds than coaxial cables.
- There are two types of twisted pair cables: the unshielded twisted pair (UTP) and the shielded twisted pair (STP).
- The unshielded twisted pair cable has 4 pairs of copper wires that are present inside a plastic sheath. These wires are twisted to protect them from interference. The only protection available for a UTP cable is a plastic sheath that is thin in size.
- The shielded twisted pair cable is widely used in high-speed networks.
- The major difference between UTP and shielded twisted pair is that STP makes use of a metallic shield to wrap the wires. This metallic shield prevents interference to a better extent than UTP.
These STP cables come with numbering; the higher the numbering, the better the interference prevention.
As an example:
CAT5,CAT5A,CAT6,CAT6A
2. Coaxial Cables :
- The coaxial cables have a central copper conductor, surrounded by an insulating layer, a conducting shield, and the outermost plastic sheath.
- Thus, there are three insulation layers for the inner copper cable
- Cable TV and analog televisions mainly use coaxial cables.
- Coaxial cables have better resistance to cross talk than twisted pair cables.
- The coaxial cables are used for long distance communication. The most widely used types of coaxial cables are RG-59 and RG-6 (RG stands for 'radio guide'). RG-59 has lesser shielding and is suitable for short cable lengths and cable TV connections.
- RG-6 has better insulation than RG-59 and is used for satellite TV and digital signal transmissions for better strength and longer distances.
--Advantages :
1. High Bandwidth
2. Easy and cheap installation
3. Better immunity from noise
4. Better scaling
- -- Disadvantages :
1. Cover less distance than fibre optic cables
2. Less bandwidth than both fibre optic and twisted pair cables