Twisted pair VS Coaxial

[pipnina]

It is my understanding that Twisted pair is designed to detect interference and remove it upon termination. However, coaxial cable is just heavily shielded. In my assignment, I need to explain why certain communication mediums are prefereable in different situations.

 

For example, in my home network, I have a double-shielded coaxial cable coming from the outside to my router and Cat.5e cable from the router to my machines. Why is the twisted pair used in the 2nd half of this network? Esp when Wikipedia (Yes, I know it's not always accurate) says that some twisted pairs don't cope well with tight corners.

 

So... I honestly don;t know what I'd use either for if I built my own network. The only reason I can see using twisted to get to my computer is because it's the only connectors it has available.

[ManWithBeard1990]

Strictly speaking coaxial is better, but twisted pairs are thinner and you can put more wire pairs into a single cable of a certain thickness. The idea behind twisting is that a pair of wires transmitting a signal is liable to interference from electromagnetic radiation, because there's an open space between the wires, so the pair can be seen as a really elongated single turn electromagnetic coil that picks up any electromagnetic signal that falls onto it. Twisting the wire up negates that effect and has the added bonus that it transmits less interference, too. Problem of course is that if two twisted pairs are placed next to each other they will interfere with each other if they're twisted at the same rate, so if you cut open an Ethernet cable, you'll find the twist rate of all pairs is slightly different. Over long distance, coaxial is better. It doesn't need to be twisted because the other wire of the pair is actually around the inner wire, and in theory, if perfectly manufactured, it does not pick up any interference, at all. It is more expensive though and for the short wiring runs in your house, plain old cat5e twisted pair is good enough.