| Ethernet | Ethernet is a ubiquitous wireline network protocol and is almost always the best choice for building Local Area Networks. Ethernet is capable of carrying various types of network traffic but is most commonly used to carry IP traffic. Ethernet comes in four speeds and several physical formats. Speeds are 10mbps, 100mbps, and 1Gbps, and 10Gbps in either half-duplex or full-duplex modes. These speeds represent the bit rates of the ethernet transceivers. Actual throughput across an ethernet segment depends upon a number of factors, including the overhead incurred by the network and application layer protocols used. Realistic IP throughput over an ethernet network may often be 80% of the transceiver bit rate but can be higher or lower. Common physical media for ethernet are twisted pair copper wire and various types of fiber cable.
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