In this lesson, we explore the TIA standards for LAN cables, and understand which category of cable is applicable for which line speed of LAN.
This free online datacom training course lesson is in both the CTNS Certification Package and the CTA Certification Package.
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LANs for the most part run over cables inside buildings.
The term “cable” is often used to mean “bundles of wires”. Connectors or terminations may also be included in the package.
Copper wires are typically used for LAN cables. Copper is used because it is inexpensive, pliable, corrosion-resistant, and easy to extrude into long, thin wires.
Historically, copper wires have been used for two-wire telephone circuits (“loops”). The two wires are twisted together to reduce pickup of noise, and so are often referred to as twisted pair.
The wire may be solid or braided, the latter being more expensive to manufacture but better resistant to breakage.
A shield may be placed around individual pairs, and/or around the entire bundle of wires in a cable. The shield is a metal foil or mesh that prevents noise from reaching the wires inside it.
Category 5 and 5e cables, for up to 1 Gb/s are unshielded twisted pair (UTP). Category 6 cables have shielding as illustrated.
The most widely-followed standard for LAN cables is TIA-568, published by the Electronic Industries Association and its Telecommunications Industry Association sub-group.
This standard defines categories of twisted-pair cabling that support different line speeds.
Telecommunications Systems Bulletin TSB-67 adds the requirements and methods for field testing installed cable systems.
Taken together, these are the authority how to design and install a structured cabling system.
TIA-568 Category 1 cable is existing telephone cabling, also called Rusty Twisted Pair (RTP).
Category 2 cable was 25-pair multiconductor cables for old key telephone systems that had buttons to press to access different lines.
Category 3 cable was specified for 10 Mb/s Ethernet on twisted pair, 10BASE-T.
Category 4 cable was specified for the 16 Mb/s token ring.
Category 5 cabling was for the future at up to 1000 Mb/s.
All of these categories are now obsolete.
Cat 5 cable was supposed to handle Gigabit Ethernet, but in practice turned out to be missing the specification of required transmission characteristics.
Enhanced Category 5 (Cat 5e) was specified to guarantee the operation of 1000BASE-T.
Category 6 cable is specified to support 10 Gb/s on twisted pair. It starts being necessary to specify the frequency bandwidth supported on the twisted pair along with all of the other transmission characteristics to enable communication at these line speeds.
In theory, Category 7 supports 100 Gb/s on twisted pair.
This is the same bit rate as top-end fiber core network circuits, so one could probably expect it will be a while before we see any significant deployment of Cat 7.
All of these categories specify cables with four pairs (eight wires) and a maximum length of 100 meters.
The difference between the categories rests in guaranteed transmission characteristics of the cable, including specifications for Near-End Crosstalk (NEXT), Attenuation to Crosstalk Ratio (ACR), supported frequency bandwidth, all of which affect the maximum possible information transfer rate, and hence what kind of devices can be successfully attached to each end of the cable.
One of the main factors in getting a cable certified to meet the TIA-568 category is quality control, particularly in the consistency of the twisting and placement of the pairs.
Two pairs will be twisted at a particular number of twists per inch, but offset by half a period to minimize crosstalk between the pairs.
The other two pairs will be twisted at a different rate that is not a multiple of the other, and similarly with the twists exactly not lined up.
How well and how consistently this is accomplished during the manufacturing process determines how successful the manufacturer will be in having the cable certified as meeting the standard.
When determining which category of cable to use, life cycle and cost are determining factors.
For a patch cable connecting a DSL or Cable Modem to a device inside a residence, where we have an expectation that the line speed will not exceed 100 Mb/s in the foreseeable future, then Cat 5 patch cables may be used.
For an extra ten cents, a Cat 5e patch cable would allow the continued use of the cable were the line speed to increase above 100 Mb/s, as it inevitably will at some time in the future.
When wiring a building, the cost of the labor to pull the cables is far more than the cost of the cable.
Conventional wisdom is to install the highest capacity available cable at the time the building is wired to avoid having to ever rewire the building.
The person who worked for a school board who got upset at me in a class for telling them they had made a mistake wiring their schools with Cat 3 to save a bit of money is to this day stuck at a maximum of 10 Mb/s, when the rest of the world is at 100 Mb/s and 1000 Mb/s.
At a minimum, Category 5e cable would be pulled in a building.
The smart money would install Category 6 certified cable terminated at one end on a Category 6 certified wall jack and at the other end on Category 6 certified patch panels.
Patch cords would then used to connect a computer’s LAN jack to the wall jack at one end, and from the patch panel to an Ethernet switch at the other end.
Ethernet switches are covered in an upcoming lesson.
The maximum run length of the cables – including runs through risers, poles, conduits – is 100 m (330 feet).
To be conservative, the patch panel and switch would be located in a wiring closet serving a radius of perhaps 100 feet.
These wiring closet switches could be connected to centralized Ethernet switches on each floor, which are connected to a switching router in the communications room, possibly using fiber.
A routing switch combines the functions of a LAN switch and router along with many other functions like DHCP.
In other cases, the wiring closet switches will be connected directly to a centralized switching router with regular LAN cables.
Since the labor cost is usually far greater than the cable, it is strongly recommended to install cable with capacity greater than immediate needs, and twice as many cables as what the conventional wisdom dictates.
Two Category 6 cables to each work area would be the Cadillac solution.
Two Category 5e cables to each work area would be well positioned for the future.
One Category 5 cable to each work area would probably be viewed as a mistake ten years down the road.
Cross-Section of TIA-568 Category 6 Cable Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to explain:
1. Course Introduction
2. Broadcast Domains, MAC Addresses and MAC Frames
The fundamental idea of devices connected together in a broadcast domain, and how stations communicate using MAC addresses
3. LAN Switches a.k.a. Layer 2 Switches
How LAN switches are at the center of practical implementation of connecting stations, and how they forward frames between stations in a broadcast domain.
4. VLANs
Defining broadcast domains in software to segregate traffic. Used to separate customer traffic on carrier MANs, and used in-building as a basic network security measure.
5. 802 Physical Standards: 802.3 Twisted Pair and 802.11 Wi-Fi
Ethernet on copper wires, and standards like 1000BASE-T. Ethernet over the Ether, usually called Wi-Fi, and how MAC frames are communicated using radio carrier frequencies.
6. Twisted-Pair LAN Cables, Categories, Wiring Plan and Switch Hierarchy
Wiring
Ethernet to the work area with Cat 5, Cat 5e and Cat 6 twisted-pair copper-wire cables, wiring closets and Layer 2 aggregation switches.
7. Optical Ethernet and Fiber Links
The fundamental idea of representing the 1s and 0s that make up a MAC frame using light carried in a glass tube, how fibers are actually installed and commissioned, and review the Optical Ethernet implementations in the 802.3 standard.
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Invest in yourself with Teracom’s CTNS Certification Package, eight online courses delivering a solid foundation in telecom, datacom and networking: understanding the fundamentals, technologies, jargon and buzzwords, and most importantly, the underlying ideas and how it all fits together… plus TCO Certification to prove it:
2241 Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom
2206 Wireless Telecommunications
2221 Fundamentals of Voice over IP
2201 The PSTN
2212 OSI Layers and Protocol Stacks
2211 LANs, VLANs, Wireless and Optical Ethernet
2213 IP Addresses, Packets and Routers
2214 MPLS and Carrier Networks
Benefit from decades of knowledge, insight and experience distilled into clear lessons, logically organized to build one concept on another. Get a major career-enhancing and productivity-enhancing knowledge upgrade – learning that you can't get on the job, reading magazines or talking to vendors.
Based on Teracom’s famous week-long instructor-led BOOT CAMP, the selection of material, its order, timing, and explanations are field-tested to deliver the core up-to-date knowledge set for today’s telecommunications.
The first four CTNS courses are on telecommunications, beginning with Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom, an introduction and first pass through all of the topics; followed by Introduction to Voice over IP, then Wireless Telecommunications, including 5G and Wi-Fi 6, and the PSTN.
Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom is a high-level wide-ranging introduction to the world of modern IP telecommunications.
This course is based on the first chapter of Teracom's famous instructor-led BOOT CAMP, getting a full week of training started with an introduction to all of the different aspects of the modern converged IP telecom network.
Designed specifically for non-engineers, It's a first pass through the topics, starting at the beginning, explaining the fundamental ideas, jargon, equipment and technologies, the services that are sold, the players, where the money is, and how it all fits together.
In subsequent courses, we'll take another pass and drill deeper into key areas like Wireless, VoIP, PSTN, Ethernet, IP and MPLS.
This is quite a range of knowledge, and can appear daunting, especially if you are new to telecom. Keep in mind that this course is the introduction, the first pass through all of these topics.
No-one is expecting anyone to be an instant expert!
In subsequent courses, we take a second and sometimes third pass through the topics and drill deeper to more fully understand the concepts and technologies.
With this course, we're getting started identifying and understanding all of the aspects of modern broadband converged IP telecommunications.
Based on Teracom's famous Course 101, tuned and refined over the course of more than 20 years of instructor-led training, we'll cut through the jargon to demystify modern IP telecommunications, explaining the jargon and buzzwords, the underlying ideas, and how it all works together… in plain English.
We begin with basic concepts and terminology involved in mobile networks, including base stations and transceivers, mobile switches and backhaul, handoffs, cellular radio concepts and digital radio concepts.
Next, we understand how phone calls are made over radio and how they connect to landlines; and how mobile internet is implemented, tethered modems and mobile Wi-Fi hotspots.
Without bogging down on details, we'll review spectrum-sharing technologies: FDMA for first generation; 2G GSM/TDMA, 3G CDMA and 4G and 5G OFDM.
We'll understand how modems represent bits on subcarriers in OFDM, and how OFDMA is used in 4G and 5G to dynamically assign subcarrier(s) to users.
This is followed with Wi-Fi, or more precisely, 802.11 wireless LANs: the system components, frequency bands, bitrates and coverage for all of the versions up to Wi-Fi 6 which is 802.11ax, the first Wi-Fi to implement full-duplex communications with multiple simultaneous devices using OFDMA and a theoretical 9.6 Gb/s.
The course is completed with communications satellites, in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit and Low Earth Orbit, including Iridium Next and Starlink.
You'll gain a solid understanding of the key principles of wireless and mobile networks:
Jargon & Buzzwords • VoIP Phone System Components and Operation • Voice Packetization • LANs and WANs • VoIP Phones: MAC Address, DHCP, IP, UDP, RTP, QoS • SIP, Softswitches & SIP Trunking • Cloud • The Future
Fundamentals of Voice over IP is a complete introduction to everything Voice over IP. You'll learn the fundamental ideas and principles of a VoIP telephone system, VoIP, SIP & all the other jargon - what it actually means and how it all works together.
At each step, we'll also cover supporting and related technologies like Ethernet MAC frames and codecs and video over IP.
The objective of this course is to put in place a solid, structured base of knowledge in the technology and implementation of communicating thoughts from one person's brain to another via a telephone conversation carried in IP packets.
In particular, on completion of this course, you will be able to explain:
One cornerstone of a full, rounded base of knowledge of telecommunications is the structure and operation of the Public Switched Telephone Network, built over the past 135 years, still in operation in every country on earth – knowledge necessary for connecting the PSTN to, and steadily replacing the PSTN with IP telecom technologies.
In this course, you'll build a solid understanding of the fundamentals of the telephone system: Customer Premise and Central Office, loops, trunks, remotes, circuit switching and how a telephone call is connected end-to-end. We'll cover LECs, CLECs and IXCs, sound, analog and the voiceband, twisted pair, DTMF and SS7. Updated for the 2020s.
On completion of this course, you will be able to draw a model of the Public Switched Telephone Network, identify and explain its components and technologies including:
The second half of CTNS is four courses on networking, delivering a practical understanding of Ethernet and its MAC frames, IP packets with IP addresses and routers, and the traffic management system MPLS. We begin with the OSI Reference Model and its Layers as a framework to organize the discussions.
This course establishes a framework for all of the subsequent discussions: the OSI 7-Layer Reference Model, which identifies and divides the functions to be performed into groups called layers.
This framework is required to sort out the many functions that need to be performed, and to be able to discuss separate issues separately.
First, we'll define the term "protocol" and compare that to a standard. Then we'll define "layer" and how a layered architecture operates, and provide an overview of the name, purpose and function of each of the seven layers in the OSI model.
Then, we'll go back through the story more slowly, with one lesson for each of the layers, examining in greater detail the functions that have to be performed and giving examples of protocols and how and where they are used to implement particular layers.
The result is a protocol stack, one protocol on top of another on top of another to fulfill all of the required functions. To make this more understandable, this course ends with the famous FedEx Analogy illustrating the concepts using company-to-company communications, and an analogy of Babushka dolls to illustrate how the protocol headers are nested at the bits level.
On completion of this course, you will be able to:
This course is all about Ethernet: the fundamentals, equipment and implementations including twisted-pair copper cables, wireless and fiber, in-building, in the network core, MANs and PONs.
You'll understand the jargon and buzzwords, the underlying ideas, and how it all works together to form the physical basis of the telecom network.
On completion of this course, you will be able to explain:
On completion of this course, you will be able to explain:
MPLS and Carrier Networks is a comprehensive, up-to-date course on the networks companies like AT&T build and operate, how they are implemented, the services they offer, and how customers connect to the network.
The IP packets and routing of the previous course is one part of the story. Performance guarantees, and methods for quality of service, traffic management, aggregation and integration is another big part of the story, particularly once we leave the lab and venture into the real world and the business of telecommunications services.
We'll begin by establishing a basic model for a customer obtaining service from a provider, defining Customer Edge, Provider Edge, access and core, and a Service Level Agreement: traffic profile vs. transmission characteristics.
Next, we'll understand virtual circuits, a powerful tool used for traffic management and how they are implemented with MPLS, explaining the equipment, jargon and principles of operation.
Without bogging down on details, we’ll cut through buzzwords and marketing to demystify:
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FAQsTeracom is an Accredited Training Partner of the Telecommunications Certification Organization, authorized to administer exams for TCO certifications on the myTeracom Learning Management System and award TCO Certifications.
TCO Certification is proof of your knowledge of telecom, datacom and networking fundamentals, jargon, buzzwords, technologies and solutions.
It's backed up with a Certificate suitable for framing - plus a personalized Letter of Reference / Letter of Introduction detailing the knowledge your TCO Certification represents and inviting the recipient to contact Teracom for verification.
You may list Teracom Training Institute as a reference on your résumé if desired.
Each course has a course exam, consisting of ten multiple-choice questions chosen at random from a pool and shuffled in order. Passing the course exams proves your knowledge of these topics and results in your certification as a Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist.
Your Certificate and Letter of Reference / Letter of Introduction will be immediately available for download from your Dashboard in the myTeracom Learning Management System. You may also order a signed and sealed Certificate by airmail.
Choosing the "Unlimited Plan" at registration allows you to repeat courses and/or exams at no additional charge – which means guaranteed to pass if you're willing to learn.
Alternatively, if you like this discounted package of courses, but don't need the certification – or don't feel like writing exams – no problem! Take the Telecom, Datacom and Networking for Non‑Engineers course package, which includes the same courses as the CTNS certification package, without the certification exams.
One benefit of TCO certification is differentiating yourself from the rest of the crowd when applying for a job or angling for a promotion.
The knowledge you gain taking Teracom's Online Courses, confirmed with TCO Certification, is foundational knowledge in telecommunications, IP, networking and wireless: fundamental concepts, mainstream technologies, jargon, buzzwords, and the underlying ideas - and how it all fits together.
This type of knowledge and preparation makes you an ideal candidate to hire or promote to a task, as you will be able to build on your knowledge base to quickly get up to speed and work on a particular project - then have the versatility to work on subsequent projects.
TCO Certification will help demonstrate you have this skill... a desirable thought to have in your potential manager's mind.
Take advantage of these courses for individual learning, a team, or for an entire organization.
The scalable myTeracom Learning Management System can register and manage all of your people through their courses, lessons and exams, and generate management reports showing progress and scores with the click of a button.
For larger organizations, the courses and exams can also be licensed and deployed on an organization's internal LMS.
Teracom certification packages are an extremely cost-effective way of implementing consistent, comprehensive telecommunications and networking technology fundamentals training, ensuring that both existing resources and new hires are up to the same speed, with a common vocabulary, framework and knowledge base.
The course exams provide concrete measurements of competency in key knowledge areas. Management can view the progress and results of all team members and export the results to Excel with the click of a button.
These reports identify skills deficiencies and strengths, and provide tangible proof of return on investment and team readiness for reports to upper management.
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