Choice Of Computer Networking Cables And Their Effect On Data Transmission

Computer networking is the order of the day in this Information and Communication Technology (ICT) age. Although a network can be through a wireless device most local connections are done using cables. There are three main computer-networking cables namely coaxial cable, unshielded twisted pair cable and the optic fibre cable. In this research work the cables that most effectively transmit data given some distance in a computer network, were determined. To achieve this, a signal strength meter Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) from Applied Instruments Inc is used to measure the signal strength at particular distances in the network. Results show that coaxial cable has a correlation coefficient of -0.66857to t he distance, unshielded twisted pair cable has -0.47362 while optic fibre cable has –-0.91674. From the analyses it was discovered that the signal strength is partially inversely related to the distance for coaxial cables and about half inversely related to the distance in unshielded twisted pair cables. While in optic fibre cables the signal strength is almost perfectly inversely related to the distance. Similarly the use of these cables was considered in download time. Download time for both plain text and graphics were recorded and from this it was discovered that the mean difference is significant at 0.05 level which shows that the unshielded twisted pair cable is better for plain text download while the optic fibre cable is better for graphic download Keywords: Networking, cables, transmission, measurements and correlation.Global Journal or Pure and Applied Sciences Vol. 14 (4) 2008: pp. 433-43