Communication Channel

Communication Channel

The media through which the communication is established or the workstations are interconnected is called communication channel. A network may use a physical medium such as cables and optical fibers or/and wireless medium such as radio wave or micro wave for communication. The transmission capacity of a communication channel is termed as Bandwidth,
The most commonly used communication channels are:

Twisted-pair cable: It is just like a telephone cable, which consists of copper wires twisted together and terminates in a square plastic RJ-11 or RJ-45 plug or connector.

Coaxial cable:It is like cable-TV or cable with a round, silver BNC connecter at either end and is a high-capacity communication cable consisting of a copper wire conductor, non- conducting insulator, metal shield (net), and plastic outer coating.

Fiber-optic cable: It consists of a bundle of extremely thin tube of glass. Each tube, called an optical fiber, is much thinner than a human hair. It usually consists of a strong inner support wire; multiple strands of optical fiber, each covered by a plastic insulator and a tough outer covering.