🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan25.095134.25886@ica.philips.nl>, geertj@ica.philips.nl (Geert Jan de Groot) writes:
> Coax has the big advantage that a new tap can be easily made by adding
> another T and a piece of coax to the existing wiring.
> 
> 10baseT is best if you have to run an office of non-technical people that
> move around a lot and don't know they have to jumper their ethernet tap
> if they move. Also, if they are sluggish about their cables and break
> one once a while, 10baseT can be a lifesaver. (coax would mean that you
> have to hunt for the defective tap every time, like a defect light bulb
> in a christmas tree).

This is exactly why I much prefer 10BaseT, even for technical folks.
Briefly, 10BaseT is much easier to *manage*.  You can isolate faults
much more quickly.  Each segment is independent, and you're not relying
on the quality of vampire taps.  From experience, they're often difficult
to get right.  And failures are hard to find.  Besides, no matter how good
your technical people are, you're still vulnerable to random electricians
accidentally cutting your coax, and mending it with wire nuts and black
tape.  (No, I'm not making this one up....)

There's a second major advantage to 10BaseT -- you can install lots more
``just in case'' wiring.  Twisted pair cable is cheap; you can afford to
have lots of it in the walls of offices you don't think need more
connections.  If and when you need them, you can just cross-connect at
a patch panel.  You can't do that with coax -- at best, you can put
15 wire cables into the wall.  But those are much more expensive, and
you still have to install a transceiver.  (Well, yes, you could have
a patch panel of multi-port transceivers in your wiring close, but
the distance limitations will get you.)

For folks who really need many offices with multiple connections,
thin-wire coax might be an acceptable compromise.  You still get to
isolate segments, and you still get the advantages of a patch panel
and relatively cheap wire.  I fear, though, that thin-wire coax might
be a dinosaur.  10BaseT has most of its advantages, uses cheaper, multi-
purpose wire, and more standard components.  Its one disadvantage -- that
you need a separate hub port for each device -- is offset by the continuing
drop in hardware prices.  I tend to doubt that much new thin-wire gear
is going to show up on the market.

Thickwire coax is, in my opinion, useful primarily in machine rooms.
The configuration is comparatively static; electrically, it's a high-
noise environment, and you don't want to put all your file server eggs
in one active basket.  Even so, a failed coax can put you off the air
much longer than it takes to swap out a failed hub.