Connect Two Computers With Ethernet Cords
Ethernet is by far the most common method today for physically connecting two computer on the same network. There are three slightly different types of Ethernet cords available, which makes things slightly more complicated, but they’re all compatible with each other, so you don’t need to worry too much about buying the wrong cord.
All Ethernet cords end with an adapter that looks like a big U.S. telephone adapter. This adapter is called an RJ45 (U.S. telephone adapters are RJ11). At the end, it contains 8 parallel metal pins.
Most Ethernet cords are colored blue, although they can come in any color. Watch out for Ethernet cords colored yellow or red—these may be a special type of Ethernet called a crossover cable.
There are three different varieties of Ethernet cable. You can always tell which type of cable you have by reading the text printed on the cable. You have to look hard, as often the printing is in small, faint letters, but you should see something like the following text taken from an actual cable: “E111018 (A0l). Type CM 75°C 24AWG (UL) LL92833 CSA TYPE CMG 60°C SUN MICROSYSTEMS 180–1529–02 CATEGORY 5”.
Note the last part says, “CATEGORY 5”. It may also have said “CAT 5” or “CAT–5”, but it would mean the same thing. Also the CAT–5 designation can appear anywhere in the text, not just at the end. Besides CAT–5, there is also CAT–5E and CAT–6. Here are the differences between them:
- CAT–5 was the fastest usable Ethernet cable for over a decade. But recently, faster routers have been able to use better cables to provider faster speeds to computers. If you’re just starting a home network, you’ll be fine using CAT–5 to connect two computers.
- CAT–5E is used in the current fastest Ethernet routers—it’s about 10 times faster than regular CAT–5. The extra speed comes from building the CAT–5E cables to a more precise specification that reduces electromagnetic interference.
- CAT–6 is also used in the current fastest Ethernet routers, but no current router can transmit fast enough to use all of the bandwidth available in CAT–6. Because of this, many companies use CAT–6 in their internal wiring so that they don’t need to rewire when faster routers come out.
When you go to buy Ethernet cords, it doesn’t matter which you buy unless you need the fastest speeds. If you have spare cash and you want to best performance, buy CAT–6. If you’re frugal and don’t do anything special on the Internet, buy CAT–5.
One thing you should always do is buy pre-made CAT–5 cords. Do this even if you’re an electrician familiar with making your own cords—Ethernet cords (especially CAT–6) are very hard to wire without damaging their electromagnetic shielding.
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