Cabling Requirements 59
10BASE-T Specifications
The 10BASE-T name indicates a signaling speed of
10 Mbps and twisted-pair wiring. Base stands for
baseband, which denotes a technique for transmitting
signals as direct-current pulses rather than modulating
them onto separate carrier frequencies.
A wiring topology using 10BASE-T specifies a wiring hub,
cable arranged in a star configuration, and unshielded
twisted-pair cable. Each node has a separate cable run that
must not exceed 100 meters (328 ft) from the node to
the hub.
100BASE-TX Operation
100BASE-TX is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) 802.3u standard for Ethernet signaling
over unshielded twisted-pair wire at 100 Mbps.
Fast Ethernet uses 100BASE-TX as its primary cabling
scheme. Fast Ethernet’s characteristics include:
■ A data rate of 100 Mbps
■ A broadcast architecture
■ A specific media-access control (MAC) scheme
100BASE-TX Specifications
The 100BASE-TX name indicates a signaling speed of
100 Mbps and twisted-pair wiring. Base stands for
baseband, which denotes a technique for transmitting
signals as direct-current pulses rather than modulating
them onto separate carrier frequencies.
A wiring topology using 100BASE-T specifies a wiring hub,
cable arranged in a star configuration, and unshielded
twisted-pair cable. Each node has a separate cable run that
must not exceed 100 meters (328 ft) from the node to
the hub.
