quick network engineering review question

Jonathan Hutchins hutchins at tarcanfel.org
Thu Jun 2 20:38:40 CDT 2005


On Wednesday 01 June 2005 04:27 pm, Jonathan Hutchins wrote:

> Not a guaranteed answer, but I would say "no".  The wire from the telecom
> does not carry straight ethernet traffic, it's frame relay or dsl or
> something. you need some sort of modem device to translate to ethernet.

To follow up: while ethernet is great for multiple hosts on a local loop or 
star topology within a building, it's not designed for long distances.  You 
can often get away with a run between buildings, but when you start building 
cross-town links you need a different standard.  That's where other protocols 
like Frame Relay and "DSL" come in.  This is why you need some sort of 
"modem" between the cross-town link and your ethernet.


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