Ethernet crossover cable - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Page 1 of 6

Ethernet crossover cable

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Ethernet crossover cable is a type of Ethernet cable used

to connect computing devices together directly. Normal
straight through or patch cables were used to connect from a
host network interface controller (a computer or similar
device) to a network switch, hub or router. A cable with
connections that "cross over" was used to connect two
devices of the same type: two hosts or two switches to each
other. Owing to the inclusion of Auto-MDIX capability,
modern implementations of the Ethernet over twisted pair
standards usually no longer require the use of crossover
cables.
Gigabit T568B crossover cable ends

Contents

1 Overview
2 Crossover cable pinouts
3 Automatic crossover
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Overview
The 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX Ethernet standards use
one wire pair for transmission in each direction. By
convention, one wire of the pair is designated "+" and the
other "-". Following traditional telephone terminology, the +
signal from each pair connects to the tip conductor, and the signal is connected to the ring conductor. This requires that
the transmit pair of each device be connected to the receive
pair of the device on the other end. When a terminal device is
connected to a switch or hub, this crossover is done internally
in the switch or hub. A standard straight through cable is
used for this purpose where each pin of the connector on one
end is connected to the corresponding pin on the other
connector.

8P8C modular crossover adapter

One network interface controller may be connected directly to another without the use of a switch or
hub, but in that case the crossover must be done externally in the cable or modular crossover adapter
in a manner similar to how the null modem was used to directly connect two teleprinters. Since
10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX use pairs 2 and 3, these two pairs must be swapped in the cable. This
is a crossover cable. A crossover cable was also used to connect two hubs or two switches on their
upstream ports .
Because the only difference between the T568A and T568B pin/pair assignments are that pairs 2 and
3 are swapped, a crossover cable may be envisioned as a cable with one modular connector
following T568A and the other T568B (see Jack crossover wiring). Such a cable will work for

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable

30/01/2012

Ethernet crossover cable - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Page 2 of 6

10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX. Gigabit Ethernet (and an early Fast Ethernet variant, 100BASE-T4)
use all four pairs and also requires the other two pairs (1 and 4) to be swapped. This meant common
crossover cables available in the retail market were usually not compatible with the Gigabit Ethernet
convention, but newer crossover cables could be made that worked for all speeds. The polarity of
each pair is not swapped, but the pairs crossed as a unit: the two wires within each pair are not
crossed.[1]

Crossover cable pinouts

In practice, it does not matter if noncrossover Ethernet cables are wired as
T568A or T568B, just so long as both ends
follow the same wiring format. Typical
commercially available "pre-wired" cables
can follow either format depending the
manufacturer. What this means is that one
manufacturer's cables are wired one way
and another's the other way, yet both are
correct and will work. In either case, T568A
or T568B, a normal (un-crossed) cable will
have both ends wired according to the
layout in the Connection 1 column.

Crossover cable connecting two MDI ports

Although the Gigabit crossover is defined in the Gigabit Ethernet standard[2], in practice all Gigabit
PHYs feature an auto-MDIX capability and are designed for compatibility with the existing
100BASE-TX crossovers. The IEEE-specified Gigabit crossover is generally seen as unnecessary.
Certain equipment or installations, including those in which phone and/or power are mixed with data
in the same cable, may require that the "non-data" pairs 1 and 4 (pins 4, 5, 7 and 8) remain uncrossed.
Two pairs crossed, two pairs uncrossed
10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX crossover

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable

30/01/2012

Ethernet crossover cable - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Connection 1: T568A

Connection 2: T568B

Pin

Pins on plug face

signal pair
1 BI_DA+

BI_DA-

3 BI_DB+

Page 3 of 6

BI_DB-

color

signal pair

white/green BI_DB+
stripe

BI_DB-

white/orange BI_DA+
stripe

green solid

blue solid

white/blue
stripe
orange solid
white/brown
stripe
brown solid

BI_DA-

3
4
4

color
white/orange
stripe
orange solid
white/green
stripe
blue solid
white/blue
stripe
green solid
white/brown
stripe
brown solid

Gigabit T568A crossover

All four pairs crossed
10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 100BASE-T4 or 1000BASE-T crossover (shown as T568A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable

30/01/2012

Ethernet crossover cable - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pin

Connection 1: T568A
signal pair

1 BI_DA+

BI_DA-

3 BI_DB+

4 BI_DC+

BI_DC-

BI_DB-

7 BI_DD+

BI_DD-

color

Connection 2: T568A
Crossed
signal pair
2

BI_DB-

white/orange BI_DA+
stripe

white/green
stripe

BI_DD+

white/brown
stripe

BI_DD-

BI_DA-

white/brown BI_DC+
stripe

BI_DC-

blue solid
white/blue
stripe
orange solid

brown solid

Pins on plug face

color

white/green BI_DB+
stripe
green solid

Page 4 of 6

white/orange
stripe
orange solid

brown solid
green solid
blue solid
white/blue
stripe

Gigabit T568B crossover

All four pairs crossed
10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 100BASE-T4 or 1000BASE-T crossover (shown as T568B)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable

30/01/2012

Ethernet crossover cable - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pin

Connection 1: T568B
signal pair

1 BI_DA+

BI_DA-

3 BI_DB+

4 BI_DC+

BI_DC-

BI_DB-

7 BI_DD+

BI_DD-

color

Connection 2: T568B
Crossed
signal pair
3

BI_DB-

white/green BI_DA+
stripe

white/orange
stripe

BI_DD+

white/brown
stripe

BI_DD-

BI_DA-

white/brown BI_DC+
stripe

BI_DC-

blue solid
white/blue
stripe
green solid

brown solid

Pins on plug face

color

white/orange BI_DB+
stripe
orange solid

Page 5 of 6

white/green
stripe
green solid

brown solid
orange solid
blue solid
white/blue
stripe

Automatic crossover
Main article: Auto-MDIX
Introduced in 1998, this made the distinction between uplink and normal ports and manual selector
switches on older hubs and switches obsolete.[3] If one or both of two connected devices has the
automatic MDI/MDI-X configuration feature there is no need for crossover cables.
Although Auto-MDIX was specified as an optional feature in the 1000BASE-T standard[2], in
practice it is implemented widely on most interfaces. It has been available for example on Apple Inc.
computers since about the Power Mac G5.[4]
Besides the eventually agreed upon Automatic MDI/MDI-X, this feature may also be referred to by
various vendor-specific terms including: Auto uplink and trade, Universal Cable Recognition and
Auto Sensing.

See also
Crossover cable
Jack crossover wiring
Registered jack, which expands on the introduction and evolution of these connectors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable

30/01/2012

Ethernet crossover cable - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Page 6 of 6

References
1. ^ Charles E. Spurgeon (2000). Ethernet: the Definitive Guide (http://books.google.com/books?
id=MRChaUQr0Q0C&pg=PA247) . O'Reilly Media. p. 247. ISBN 9781565926608.
http://books.google.com/books?id=MRChaUQr0Q0C&pg=PA247.
2. ^ a b Clause "40.4.4 Automatic MDI/MDI-X Configuration" in IEEE 802.3-2008: ("IEEE 802.3-2008,
Part 3" (http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.3-2008_section3.pdf) . 2010-06-22. p. 192.
http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.3-2008_section3.pdf. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
"Implementation of an automatic MDI/MDI-X configuration is optional for 1000BASE-T devices.")
3. ^ Daniel Dove (February 1998). 802.3 "1000BASE-T Automatic Crossover
Algorithm" (http://www.ieee802.org/3/ab/public/feb98/ddmdix1.pdf) . Presentation to IEEE 802.3ab
working group. http://www.ieee802.org/3/ab/public/feb98/ddmdix1.pdf 802.3. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
4. ^ "Apple products that require and Ethernet cable" (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2274/) . Apple
support web site. October 22, 2008. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2274/. Retrieved June 17, 2011.

External links
Creating a crossover network (http://www.jamus.co.nz/technology/technology.php)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Ethernet_crossover_cable&oldid=470088631"
Categories:
Ethernet cables Signal cables
This page was last modified on 7 January 2012 at 15:23.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional
terms may apply. See Terms of use for details.
Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit
organization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable

30/01/2012