Differences Between Phone & Network Cable
Network cable and telephone cables look fairly similar and it is not uncommon to get the two mixed up. What are differences between phone and network cable? In this article you might find answers.
Telephone Jack Definition
Al telephone jack is also known simply as a phone jack.A telephone jack is a socket into which a connector that is used to connect a telephone to a building’s wiring is plugged. It acts as a hardware interface between the telephone wiring and the telephone, and is considered the counterpart of the telephone plug. It is usually fixed to the wall or baseboard.
Every country follows a particular standard for the design and use of telephone jacks. The most commonly used telephone jack standard is the RJ-11 modular connector. The telephone jack forms a part of the dial-up systems used by home computers to connect to the Internet.
Ethernet cable vs phone cable, they look alike, and both send and receive information. But as mentioned above, they differ in many ways. Are there other differences between them? Let us know in the comments.
devices such as hubs, switches and routers. Depending on different connection, there are straight-through network cable and crossover network cable for choice.
What is the Difference Between Fax and Telephone
“Fax” is short for facsimile, which means a copy of something. A fax machine is a “tele” (at a distance) “copier”, just as a “tele” “phone” is an at a distance voice device (phone referring to sound).
A fax machine is a special purpose telephone. Many of them can also be used as a phone. In addition to the telephone part, which can recognize a dial tone or answer an incoming call, a fax machine contains a scanner to read a document, and a printer to print out received faxes. It also contains a device which converts a scanned image into sounds which can be sent over a phone line (when sending a fax) or convert fax signal sounds back into a document (when receiving a fax). Because fax machines contain a scanner and a printer, they can also be used as a copier, and sometimes as a printer. However, those designed solely as fax machines, especially lower end ones, do low resolution copies, as faxes have limited resolution.
Differences Between Phone & Network Cable
When connecting the computer to the network devices like switches and routers, you must use a network cable, namely an Ethernet patch cable. A regular phone cable will not work, even though it looks similar to a network cable. There are some differences between Ethernet cable vs phone cable, including:
Different Uses
Phone cables are most often used for home telephone lines and for Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections. Ethernet cables are typically used to interconnect computers and IP networks.
Network Cables are Usually Thicker and Rounder Than a Telephone Cable.
RJ45-vs-RJ11Network cables, including Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a, etc., are twisted pair cables for carrying signals in structured cabling for computer networks such as Ethernet. An Ethernet network cable consists of 8 wires; twisted, and made into 4 pairs, each colour coded by a solid colour with their respective dashed/striped white cables. While phone cables are narrower and flat, and are made up of four wires. Thus, a network cable is wider than a phone cable, resulting in larger bandwidth than phone cable.
Network Cables Have Larger RJ-45 Connectors and Phone Cables Usually Have Smaller RJ-11 Connectors.
The key difference between the two is the size of the plastic connectors on the ends of the cable. The end of the cable, called the plug, is rounder and thicker on an Ethernet cable. A phone plug is smaller and flat. The Ethernet plug is called an RJ45 while a phone plug is called an RJ11.“RJ” is short for registered jack. The RJ-45 has eight contacts that accept eight wires, also know as pins. Network cables usually have more pins than phone cables. Thus, RJ-45 connector is larger than an RJ-11 connector. And as a result, the jack for network cables is wider than a phone’s cable.
Can I Use a Phone Cable As an Ethernet Cable?
Simply no. Ethernet requires all 4 pairs (8 connectors) you can cheat and get a mas ox 100mbs using 2 pairs (4 wire) but here is the thing. 1,2,3,6 You see Ethernet requires certain pins just to function. The phone uses the center pins of a network port 3,4,5,6. So you can not get a connection firstly. Cat3 straight untwisted cable is extremely susceptible to noise that is the purpose of the twisting and the requirement of the 4 pairs.
Also since the pins in a telephone cable won't align with the pins in an RJ45 Ethernet network connection you won't get the full connection for the ROUND TRIP connection.