Coaxial Cable

Coaxial cable can be used for telephone lines for transmission at a high frequency. Coaxial cable consists of a single core of solid copper. A coaxial cable can handle 80 times as many telephone transmissions as twisted pair media. Many computers in local area networks are linked by coaxial cables. Because of its sturdiness, coaxial cable is often used for telephone lines that must be carried under bodies of water. Because coaxial cables have very little distortion and are less prone to interference, they have low error rates.

A fiber-optic cable consists of tubes of glass through which data are transmitted as pulses of light. Although a fiber- optic cable is diametrically smaller than a human hair, it has 26,000 times the transmission capacity of twisted pair media. A major advantage of fiber-optic media is its high level of security. These communications channels are not susceptible to electronic interference. Therefore, they are a more reliable form of data transmission. Fiber-optic cables are also significantly less expensive than coaxial cable. A disadvantage of fiber-optic channels is that they cannot carry information over great distances.