Introduction to simple identification of fake Network cables for integrated cabling

The Network cables used in computer LAN mainly include twisted pair wires and coaxial cables. Among them, the coaxial cable has been basically eliminated and a large number of twisted pair cables have been used.

Twisted Pair wires are divided into two types: Shielded twisted pair wires (STP) and unshielded twisted pair wires (UTP. Because STP is only used in some special cases (such as serious electromagnetic interference and chemical corrosion), the following describes how to identify UTP.

Determine the type of twisted pair wires

The wires in the twisted pair cables are paired, and each two wires is a pair and twisted. According to the U. S. Cable specification (AWG): All wires in twisted pair wires should be 4 pairs, a total of 8. However, the 10 M Ethernet standard requires only two pairs of wire transmission signals, so some of the three types of twisted pair wires are two pairs, while some are four pairs.

The emergence of Fast Ethernet improves the speed of the original 10 m network by 10 times theoretically, and prepares for a faster Network (Gigabit Ethernet with a transmission speed of 1000 Mbps) in the future, 5 category twisted pair wires with a transmission speed of Mbps are also in use. Although Fast Ethernet only uses 2 pairs, all 4 pairs must be used for Gigabit Ethernet.

We recommend that you check the online tags. For example, the tags marked with "CAT3" are generally three types of cables. When the tags marked with "CAT5" are five category twisted pair wires.

Actual testing speed

Currently, more than five types of twisted pair wires are used in the network, and three types of twisted pair wires are already obsolete products. However, some twisted pair cable manufacturers have launched the category-5 twisted pair standard, and then sold the wires originally used for category-3 wires in cables printed with category-5 twisted pair wires. When you use this type of fake five lines, the actual network communication speed can only reach the 100 Mbps specified by Category 5 twisted pair wires within a very short distance.

This kind of fraud is very concealed and hard to be discovered by users. At this time, we recommend that you purchase a segment and use "system monitor" in Windows98 or "network monitor" in WindowsNTServer4.0 to test it yourself. If the test speed reaches 100 Mbps, it indicates that it is a category 5 twisted pair. If it is only 10 Mbps, it indicates that the cables use three types of wires. This method not only correctly distinguishes between Category 3 and Category 5 cables, but also can be used to test whether the twisting degree of each pair of wires in a twisted pair Cable conforms to the standard, it can also determine whether the metal medium in the wire is qualified. Note: During the network speed test, the length of twisted pair wires should be 100 M. Otherwise, the measured data has no practical significance.

Believe in your own eyes

Not all network wiring is concentrated in the office equipped with air conditioners, so the network cable must have a certain heat resistance, tensile and bending properties: you can test the twisted pair wires in a high-temperature environment. When the surrounding temperature of the twisted pair wires reaches 35 ℃ to 40 ℃, the outer layer of rubber won't become soft, but the false one will.

In order to ensure the safety of the connection, the outer rubber of twisted pair cables has strong tensile strength, but false cables do not;

Copper is usually used in twisted pair cables. Some manufacturers add other metal elements to copper to reduce costs during production, the intuitive manifestation is that the line after blending is obviously harder than the normal one, and it is not easy to bend. It is easy to produce broken lines during use.

The outer rubber of twisted pair wires is also fire-resistant, while fake cables are made of common flammable materials. You can try them yourself when buying them. When you need to use shielded twisted pair wires, the shielded twisted pair wires differ greatly from the commonly used unshielded twisted pair wires. Compared with unshielded twisted pair wires, a layer of metal mesh and a thin layer of insulation material are added between the wires shielded twisted pair wires and external rubber skins, and the corresponding crystal head is wrapped in metal outside.

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