What Is a Crossover Cable Network

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∟Setting Up and Using Crossover Cable Network

∟What Is a Crossover Cable Network

This section provides a quick description of what is a crossover cable and crossover cable network.

A crossover cable network is a computer network with two computers connected with a crossover cable. If you have two computers at home, and want to share files, programs, and printers, the crossover cable network is the easiest and cheapest solution for you.

Requirements:

Two computers with network supported.
A crossover network cable.

Most of today's home computers is coming with network card installed. No need to purchase network cards separately. But you need to purchase a crossover network cable separately. You can find it in most of the computer stores.

A crossover network cable is different than the normal straight network cable. It has two pair of lines crossed over from one end to the other end. The following two diagrams show you the differences.

A normal straight network cable has 8 positions at both ends. There are 8 lines connecting to both ends to exactly the same positions:

   End A                        End B        Note
   Position 1 <---------------> Position 1
   Position 2 <---------------> Position 2
   Position 3 <---------------> Position 3
   Position 4 <---------------> Position 4   Not used
   Position 5 <---------------> Position 5   Not used
   Position 6 <---------------> Position 6
   Position 7 <---------------> Position 7   Not used
   Position 8 <---------------> Position 8   Not used

A crossover network cable has 8 positions at both ends, same as the normal straight cable. But there are 2 pairs of lines crossed over. The first crossed pair of lines connects position 1 from one end to position 3 on the other end. The second crossed pair of lines connects position 2 from one end to position 5 on the other end:

   End A                        End B        Note
   Position 1 <------   ------> Position 1
                     \ /   
   Position 2 <--     X     --> Position 2
                 \   / \   /
   Position 3 <---\--   --/---> Position 3
                   \     /
   Position 4 <-----\---/-----> Position 4   Not used
                     \ /   
   Position 5 <-------X-------> Position 5   Not used
                     / \
   Position 6 <------   ------> Position 6

   Position 7 <---------------> Position 7   Not used

   Position 8 <---------------> Position 8   Not used