How Does a Network Cable Send and Receive Information
A network cable (Netzwerkkabel) by itself is just a medium via with computers can send and receive information but without other supporting accessories such a network card a network cable can do nothing. This is why in order to understand how a network cable can send and receive information you need to first understand how a computer network works along with all of its compromising components. In the simplest of terms a computer network will consist of two or more computers connected together in a way so that they are able to share information via a network cable. Regardless of how complex a networking system may be it is based off this simple yet effective system.
The four constants of a computer network
Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that each computer needs to follow.
Network cards or NICs: These are devices that plug directly into your computer. Every participating computer should have a network interface card in order to be part of a computer network.
Cable: This is the medium though with all communication takes place between computers.
Hub: The hub is responsible for controlling the traffic within a network. All communications must take place though a hub.
How does a network work?
Let’s say for instance your computer which we will call computer ‘A’ wants to send a file to computer ‘B’ here is what will take place:
1. The first step would be for the network interface card in your computer to convert the file into binary data of 1’s and 0’s based on the protocol both computers have agreed upon.
2. Now depending on the quality of the Network cable which determines the speed of the transfer the file will pass via a series of pluses.
3. The hub will receive these pluses and then pass them out to all of the cables it is connected to.
4. Computer ‘B’ will determine if the message is for it or not depending on the protocol and translate the pulse into a message which will then be displayed on your computer.
The time that this can take depends upon two main factors a. the quality of the cable and b. the distance of the computers from each other. The lower the quality of the cable and the larger the distance between the computers the more time it will take for a computer to receive the sender’s message.