Various Types of Voice and Data Cabling

           Voice and data cabling are required in homes, offices, residential and commercial complexes for various data and information needs. Voice and data cables enable the telecommunication equipment's like telephone lines, modems or analog lines. Cables are made up of copper wires which are designed to transmit data to long distances very quickly. Voice and data cabling installations are to be done in a most efficient and trusted manner. For the proper installation of voice and data cables, one should study well about the different types of available cables.

The different types of data and voice cables are mentioned below:

Coaxial Cables:

Coaxial cables are widely installed in business and Ethernet and in other types of local area networks. It was invented by Oliver Heaviside an English engineer and mathematician who patented the design in 1880. It was first used commercially in 1941 by AT& T. Coaxial cable is having pure copper core and so it has excellent data transmission capacity. These cables have an inner and outer conductor which helps to carry high frequency signals than other cable types. The metal shield and thick barrier of plastic enhances its protection and gives more stability in transmission. Coaxial cable is called ‘co-axial’ because it contains only one channel that carries the signal which is surrounded by another concentric physical channel after a layer of insulation, both running along the same axis. A single coaxial cable can carry up to 600 mbps of data and it’s widely used in digital telephone networks.

Most common types of coaxial cables are used for video transmission; video surveillance or high speed networks include RG-6 and RG-59. Coaxial cables are classified as RG (Radio government) ratings. RG-59 used for Cable TV, RG-58 used in thin Ethernet and RG-11 in thick Ethernet. 75 Ohm coaxial cables are best suitable for video transmission and 50 Ohm cables can be used for data transmission. Coaxial cables have more complex installation procedures than other cable types. So it can be installed only with the help of professionally qualified, certified and authorized consultants only.

Twisted Pair Cables:

          Voice and data cabling mainly uses twisted pair copper wiring. It consists of two copper cores with plastic insulation and twisted together. One wire is used for transmitting the signal and other as ground. Twisted pair wires can transmit data up to 300 feet without signal degradation. They are classified in to two types:

•  Unshielded twisted pair cables (UTP): 
  It’s the cheapest type of cable available in market. UTP cable consists of twisted wires form one end to the other. Twisting reduces the distortion and interference that may arise from the surrounding environment. UTP cables are classified in to 7 categories based on the signal quality.
  
  

  Category	Data Rate	Use
  CAT 1	Up to 1 mbps	Traditional telephone system and ISDN modem
  CAT 2	Up to 4 mbps	Local talk and telephone (rarely used)
  CAT 3	Up to 10 mbps	10BASE-T Ethernet
  CAT 4	Up to 16 mbps	Token Ring (rarely used)
  CAT 5	Up to 100 mbps	100BASE-T Ethernet (Gigabit Ethernet)
  CAT 5E	Up to 1000 mbps	Gigabit Ethernet
  CAT 6	Up to 1000 mbps	Gigabit Ethernet

•  Shielded twisted pair cables (STP):  The only difference between STP and UTP is in its protection system. STP has a metal sheath covering the twisted pairs within the cable framework and so it’s more expensive than UTP cables. But the protection covering helps the STP cables to bear the distortion and interference to a higher level than UTP and provides for signal strength and stable connection.
  
  

Fibre Optic Cables:

          Fibre optic cables are used by many organizations to gain fast access to the Internet. These cables transmit data signals in the form of light waves which completely eliminates the possibility of any interference on the signal from electronic or radio frequency devices from the outside environment. It’s the most expensive and fastest type of transmission cable among the different options discussed so far. Fibre optic cables are capable of sending a 500MHz signal up to 1 Km. Fibre optic cables are mainly classified in to two: Multimode fibre and Singlemode fibre. Multimode fibre allows multiple signals to be transmitted through the core in the form of light waves, and as the name indicates, singlemode fibre allows only one signal to pass through at a time. Benefits of fibre optic cables are, it provides high bandwidth, low attenuation and reduced electromagnetic interference. So it’s often used in backbone networks because of its wide bandwidth and cost effectiveness.

                     

         In order to select the correct and appropriate cabling for an organization, it’s highly recommended to select the most professional, certified and authorized network cabling specialist in the similar field.