Ethernet Designations

IEEE 802.3 specifies a series of standards for telecommunication technology over Ethernet local-area networks. This chart details the different Ethernet designations and how they differ from one another.

IEEE 802.3 specifies a series of standards for telecommunication technology over Ethernet local-area networks. The following chart details the different Ethernet flavors and how they differ from one another.

List of Ethernet standards

Designation

Description

10Base-2

10 Mbps baseband Ethernet over coaxial cable with a maximum distance of 185 meters. Also referred to as Thin Ethernet or Thinnet or Thinwire.

10Base-5

10 Mbps baseband Ethernet over coaxial cable with a maximum distance of 500 meters. Also referred to as Thick Ethernet or Thicknet or Thickwire.

10Base-36

10 Mbps baseband Ethernet over multi-channel coaxial cable with a maximum distance of 3,600 meters.

10Base-F

10 Mbps baseband Ethernet over optical fiber.

10Base-FB

10 Mbps baseband Ethernet over two multi-mode optical fibers using a synchronous active hub.

10Base-FL

10 Mbps baseband Ethernet over two optical fibers and can include an optional asynchronous hub.

10Base-FP

10 Mbps baseband Ethernet over two optical fibers using a passive hub to connect communication devices.

10Base-T

10 Mbps baseband Ethernet over twisted pair cables with a maximum length of 100 meters.

10Broad-36

10 Mbps baseband Ethernet over three channels of a cable television system with a maximum cable length of 3,600 meters.

10Gigabit Ethernet

Ethernet at 10 billion bits per second over optical fiber. Multimode fiber supports distances up to 300 meters; single mode fiber supports distances up to 40 kilometers.

100Base-FX

100 Mbps baseband Ethernet over two multimode optical fibers.

100Base-T

100 Mbps baseband Ethernet over twisted pair cable.

100Base-T2

100 Mbps baseband Ethernet over two pairs of Category 3 or higher unshielded twisted pair cable.

100Base-T4

100 Mbps baseband Ethernet over four pairs of Category 3 or higher unshielded twisted pair cable.

100Base-TX

100 Mbps baseband Ethernet over two pairs of shielded twisted pair or Category 4 twisted pair cable.

100Base-X

A generic name for 100 Mbps Ethernet systems.

1000Base-CX

1000 Mbps baseband Ethernet over two pairs of 150 shielded twisted pair cable.

1000Base-LX

1000 Mbps baseband Ethernet over two multimode or single-mode optical fibers using longwave laser optics.

1000Base-SX

1000 Mbps baseband Ethernet over two multimode optical fibers using shortwave laser optics.

1000Base-T

1000 Mbps baseband Ethernet over four pairs of Category 5 unshielded twisted pair cable.

1000Base-X

A generic name for 1000 Mbps Ethernet systems.

For more information, visit the IEEE Standards Association home page.

This article was originally published on June 24, 2010

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