Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet: what's the difference?

Ethernet is a group of network technologies , Used to connect multiple systems to develop LAN （LAN）, There are many kinds of Ethernet on the market , At present, what is used more is Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet .

This article will compare fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet in detail .

What is fast Ethernet ？

Fast Ethernet (FE) Is a term for Ethernet in Computing Networks , Representative to 100 Mbps The speed carries the flow . It's on 1995 In the past years IEEE 802.3u Standards enter the market , The rate of the original version is 10 Mbps. Fast Ethernet includes 100BASE-FX、100BASE-TX、100Base-T4 etc. .

“100” Refer to 100 Mbit/s Of transmission speed , and “BASE” Refer to Baseband signaling .

The letter after the dash （“T” or “F”） It refers to the carrying signal Physical medium （ Twisted pair or optical fiber respectively ）, And the last character （“X”、“4” etc. ） Refers to the use of Line code method .

The following table shows the common types of Fast Ethernet .

In the fast Ethernet physical layer ,100BASE-TX Is by far the most common , The maximum wiring distance of each network segment is 100m.

What is Gigabit Ethernet ？

Compared with fast Ethernet , Gigabit Ethernet （GE） In the computing network 1000Mbps The speed of , Hence the name Gigabit . Gigabit Ethernet in 1999 Released in , Only a few years after the advent of Fast Ethernet , But it was not until the 2010 It was widely used only when the demand for the Internet increased around . Gigabit Ethernet uses 803.2 The frame format , It also operates in half duplex and full duplex modes .GE Share similar cables and devices with fast Ethernet , But more common and more economical . With the continuous development of Gigabit Ethernet , More advanced GE The version came out , Such as 40G Ethernet 、100G Ethernet . Gigabit Ethernet has different physical layer standards , For example, with optical cable as the medium 1000BASE-X, Using twisted pair cable 1000BASE-T, Or use shielded balanced copper cable 1000BASE-CX.

Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet ： What's the difference? ？

The following table shows the differences between fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet .

Conclusion

This article explains and compares two types of Ethernet ： Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet . The biggest difference between fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet is speed . in fact , They are losing popularity in many applications . Gigabit Ethernet is gradually replacing Fast Ethernet used in homes . At present, the enterprise network is preferred 10G or 25G Ethernet , and 40G、100G Even higher 200G and 400G Ethernet is mainly used in large data centers and backbone networks .