An Ethernet cable connects computers on a network. An Ethernet jack is needed to connect the cable to a computer. There are two types of jacks: native and card-based. Data is sent through eight pins in the jack and is controlled by a router before reaching its destination.
An Ethernet cable is a cable used to transmit data across a computer network, allowing one computer to interface with other similarly connected machines. To connect an Ethernet cable to your computer, you need an Ethernet jack. An Ethernet socket is a port located on a computer motherboard or separate network adapter, which allows for the installation of a single Ethernet cable per socket port. For wired home networks, an Ethernet connection is required to connect one computer to another.
Physically, an Ethernet jack looks a bit like an oversized phone jack. It is typically found on the back panel of computer cases for desktop computers. If the socket is near the top of the case, near the mouse and keyboard ports, it’s likely a native solution. A native solution is an integrated solution where the Ethernet socket connects directly to the computer motherboard. The advantage is that no additional network card is required, while the downside is a slightly higher load on the computer’s CPU.
If the Ethernet jack is further down the case, below the computer monitor connectors, it’s a card-based solution. This means that the Ethernet socket is indirectly connected to the motherboard via a separate network card. The advantage of this is that all network activity – sending, receiving and forwarding of packets – is handled by the card itself, a setup that saves CPU clock cycles, reducing lag on a taxed machine. The downside is that it takes up a PCI slot on the motherboard, preventing another card, such as a sound card, from taking its place.
The Ethernet jack contains eight separate pins, which correspond to the number of connection pins in a standard Category 5 Ethernet cable. Data is sent and received through separate pins in the connection, going from the socket to the cable to the destination destination, a connected computer on a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet. During data transmission, the information sent from the plug to the cable is first sent to a router or other network device, which acts as a traffic controller, sending the data to its intended destination. For larger WAN networks, data travels from the router to nodes along the network. From there, it’s redirected before finally being received by the target computer through its Ethernet socket.
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