Chapter 9. Fast Ethernet Twisted-PairMedia System (100BASE-TX)

The 100BASE-TX twisted-pair media system is the most widely used Fast Ethernet media type. The 100BASE-TX standard is based on the twisted-pair specifications first developed for the FDDI TP-PMD (Twisted-Pair Physical Medium Dependent) standard. The system operates over two pairs of twisted-pair wires: one pair to receive data signals and the other pair to transmit data signals.

This chapter describes the signaling and media components used in the 100BASE-TX system. We also describe how a station is connected to a 100BASE-TX segment, and provide the basic configuration guidelines for a single segment.