this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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I'm really confused by the number of people here that are conflating Ethernet as a protocol and the physical medium it runs over. Coxial, fiber, and twisted pairs, can all carry different protocols. None of them are as ubiquitous in the home as Ethernet. Alternative network technologies are usually specific purpose, like fibre channel for storage, or infiniband for low latency, or 5G for wireless telecommunications.
It's a very long lived protocol and it's a testament to its lightweight and flexible nature. Ethernet really is a framework for higher level protocols where increasing change happens. IP addresses? Not Ethernet, that's all Internet protocol. It's more reminiscent of when electricity in the home was becoming common place. Before standardisation there was all kinds of chaos with different sockets, voltage, AC vs. DC etc. Although arguably that's a less settled debate with suppliers and home users often preferring different standards.
I just want to say that my home network is entirely ethernet, and I have a few fiber connections in there that are also ethernet.
The vast majority of the ethernet connections out there are done over category (5/5e/6/6a) cable, at least when it comes to end users, but that's not the only thing that can transmit ethernet.
802.11 is extremely similar to ethernet, though, very notably, it is not ethernet. It is ethernet compatible, and mostly just adds things like encryption and source and endpoint radio identifiers... It more adds to ethernet than it changes anything. Bring so similar, the end to end ethernet connection is almost entirely unchanged when there is a wireless link in the chain...
It is, of course, different, as it has some different methods for handling issues, and other things, but ethernet is in there.
Fact is, ethernet is not your category cable, nor your 8p8c "rj45" cable connectors.
There are so many protocols and standards that work together to make networks function that many have not observed outside of the practical application of LAN networks. Thus all the terms get conflated together because the vast majority have not observed these things used in any other context.
Category cable is just a standard for twisted pair wiring. "Rj45" is actually a very specific connector and signaling that has nothing to do with LAN networks. Most of the wiring standards used are born from other purposes, and few know the history behind it.
Oh well. It's not worth getting upset about it.
I was having a discussion about this with a colleague at work about the so-called "HDMI over Ethernet" and how it's a misnomer. As you said, Ethernet is a protocol, not a physical medium. I know a lot of people refer to the cable as "Ethernet cable" but the HDMI signal is being sent over CAT6 cables. There's no encapsulation into Ethernet frames being done.
Didn't he say that it's a framework for protocols, not a protocol? Or am I parsing the comment incorrectly?
Eh, it's both. Ethernet is layer 2. It is your MAC address, more or less. There's some functionality to it beyond simple hardware addressing, but it provides a scaffold for other, higher layer protocols to operate on top of.
So ethernet, in and of itself is a protocol, and it also provides a framework for other protocols like IP.
Ah, that makes sense, thanks!
If I'm talking to a client and say, "All you gotta do is plug in the Ethernet and power to the NUC I sent you.", they know what that means.
Vernacular vs. technical usage.