maotx
asked on
EIA/TIA-568A and EIA/TIA-568B in networks
Hi All,
Somewhere I got it drilled in my head that a 568A terminated cable will not work in a 568B network.
The other IT guy argued with me for a little bit and we decided to bet a couple of doughnuts on who was right.
We created a 568A cable and plugged into a computer and a hub, which connected to a switch with the rest of the 568B terminated network. All cables but this new one was 568B.
Well, two doughnuts and my confusion later I have yet to figure out how I got that stuck in my head. We had no problems talking to any computers on the hub or over the switch.
I read that if you terminate a Cat5 it doesn't matter how the colors or wires are as long as they are the same on both ends. However, their is performance lost and you may not achieve the speeds the cable can provide if you don't use 568A or B. I know a cable terminated with both 568A and B is a crossover cable. I just can't figure out where I got it that A and B are not compatible on the same network.
I guess my question is: Is their any harm in mixing an A and B network? If not, then what about a cable with a random pinout on both ends?
Thanks,
Mark
Somewhere I got it drilled in my head that a 568A terminated cable will not work in a 568B network.
The other IT guy argued with me for a little bit and we decided to bet a couple of doughnuts on who was right.
We created a 568A cable and plugged into a computer and a hub, which connected to a switch with the rest of the 568B terminated network. All cables but this new one was 568B.
Well, two doughnuts and my confusion later I have yet to figure out how I got that stuck in my head. We had no problems talking to any computers on the hub or over the switch.
I read that if you terminate a Cat5 it doesn't matter how the colors or wires are as long as they are the same on both ends. However, their is performance lost and you may not achieve the speeds the cable can provide if you don't use 568A or B. I know a cable terminated with both 568A and B is a crossover cable. I just can't figure out where I got it that A and B are not compatible on the same network.
I guess my question is: Is their any harm in mixing an A and B network? If not, then what about a cable with a random pinout on both ends?
Thanks,
Mark
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ASKER
Hi pseudocyber,
You said, "The twists are all different so there isn't cross talk - electrical signal bleed between pairs."
Do you have a link that you can reference me to that talks about that? I know your right I just want to learn a little bit more about how (EM field but I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more) the twists prevent cross talk and why certain twists of colors reduce it. Very helpful post and answered/confirmed my questions/thoughts.
Thanks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi Mark
Thanks!
Yeah I understand the the importance of having standards with cables. My question was just more of a hypothetical "what-if" for the purpose of satisfying my curiousity. Also, I had an idea that making a straight through cable of any color will cause problems, as pseudocyber pointed out. I believe I read on another form somewhere that it will greatly reduce the reliability of the transfer of data if you do that.
Thanks again.
Mark
You said, "The twists are all different so there isn't cross talk - electrical signal bleed between pairs."
Do you have a link that you can reference me to that talks about that? I know your right I just want to learn a little bit more about how (EM field but I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more) the twists prevent cross talk and why certain twists of colors reduce it. Very helpful post and answered/confirmed my questions/thoughts.
Thanks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi Mark
Thanks!
Yeah I understand the the importance of having standards with cables. My question was just more of a hypothetical "what-if" for the purpose of satisfying my curiousity. Also, I had an idea that making a straight through cable of any color will cause problems, as pseudocyber pointed out. I believe I read on another form somewhere that it will greatly reduce the reliability of the transfer of data if you do that.
Thanks again.
Mark
ASKER
Ahhh...thanks pseudocyber. Points to you.
You have a good name as my name is mark, firstly you have placed this question under the hardware/router section but that doesn't matter as we want to help.
To answer your question there is NO problem mixing A and B terminated cables as well as making your own random pinout in a network as long as its the same on both sides as it doesn't matter what colour cable inside your UTP/STP uses the TX and RX, but my question is why? If your job is to look after the network of an organisation, then one of your roles would be to standardise as much of the network as possible and i think that cabling is just as important as group polices.