UTP IMPLEMENTATION

If you look at the RJ-45 transparent end connector, you can see eight colored wires. These wires are
twisted into four pairs. Four of the wires (two pairs) carry the positive, or true, voltage and are considered “tip”
(T1 through T4); the other four wires carry the inverse, or false, voltage grounded and are called “ring” (R1
through R4). Tip and ring are terms that originated in the early days of the telephone. Today, these terms refer
to the positive and the negative wire in a pair. The wires in the first pair in a cable or a connector are designated
as T1 and R1, the second pair is T2 and R2, and so on.

The RJ-45 plug is the male component, crimped at the end of the
cable. As you look at the male connector from the front, with the clip facing down,
the pin locations are numbered from 8 on the left down to 1 on the right, as shown in Figure 4-23.
The jack, shown in Figure 4-24, is the female component in a network device, wall or cubicle partition
outlet, or patch panel. As you look at the device port, the corresponding female pin
locations are 1 on the left up to 8 on the right.

For electricity to run between the connector and the jack, the
order of the wires must follow EIA/TIA-568-A and EIA/TIA-568-B
standards, as shown previously in Figure 4-16.

In addition to identifying the correct EIA/TIA category of cable to use for a

connecting device (which depends on what standard is being used by the jack on the
network device), you need to determine which of the following to use:

■ A straight-through cable—A cable that maintains the pin connection all the way
through the cable. Thus, the wire connected to pin 1 is the same on both ends of the
cable.

■ A crossover cable—A cable that crosses the critical pair to properly align, transmit, and receive signals on the
device with line connections.

If the two RJ-45 ends of a cable are held side by side in

the same orientation, the colored wires (or strips or pins) are
seen at each connector end. If the order of the colored wires is the
same at each end, the cable is straight-through. Figure 4-25
illustrates that the RJ-45 connectors on both ends show all the
wires in the same order.

Specified for Ethernet, in a CAT 5 UTP cable, only wires 1, 2, 3,

and 6 are used for transmit (TD) and receive (RD) signals. The other four wires are not used. As shown on the left
of Figure 4-25, in a straight-through cable, the RJ-45 pins 1, 2, 3, and 6 at one end are connected to pins 1, 2, 3,
and 6 at the other end of the connection. Gigabit
Ethernet, however, uses all eight wires.

You can use a straight-through cable to connect devices

such as PCs or routers to other devices used as hubs or switches.
As Figure 4-26 shows, you should use straight-through when only one port is
designated with an x.

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 With crossover cable, the RJ-45 connectors on both
ends show that some of the wires on one side of the cable are crossed to a
different pin on the other side of the cable. Specifically for
Ethernet, pin 1 at one RJ-45 end should connect to pin 3 at the other end.
Pin 2 at one end should connect to pin 6 at the other end, as
shown in Figure 4-27.

You can use a crossover cable to connect similar devices,

switch to switch or switch to hub. Figure 4-28 shows that you use a
crossover cable when both ports are designated with an x or when
neither port is designated with an x.

The following are the guidelines for the type of

cable to use when interconnecting networking devices.
Use straight-through cables for the following cabling:
■ Switch to router
■ Switch to PC or server
■ Hub to PC or server
Use crossover cables for the following cabling:
■ Switch to switch ■ Router to router
■ Switch to hub ■ PC to PC
■ Hub to hub ■ Router to PC

T568-A and T568-B cabling pinout standard

T568-A T568-B
Pin # Color Pin # Color
1 White Green 1 White Orange
2 Green 2 Orange
3 White Orange 3 White Green
4 Blue 4 Blue
5 White Blue 5 White Blue
6 Orange 6 Green
7 White Brown 7 White Brown
8 Brown 8 Brown

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