100 Base-t Crossover

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	Question by Terry Gallaway posted 08 Aug 2000
	100 Base-t Crossover
What is the difference in 100 baseT and 100 base-T4 Crossover cable signals?
	Answer by Dmitri Abaimov posted 08 Aug 2000
Dear Terry: The biggest difference is that 100BASE-T4 was intended to run over CAT3 (as well as CAT5) cables. Having limited cabling capabilities, the protocol was designed to overcome the lack of bandwidth availavle on CAT3. That's why it needs all the four pairs to operate. It just splits 100Mbit per two channels of 50Mbit thus lowering bandwidth demand by the factor of two. So the crossover is designed so that it connects 'transmit' signals from one end with 'recieve' on another. 100BASE-T4 crossover has two 'transmits' and two 'recieves'. 100BASE-T has only one of those. Sincerely, Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
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