Classic Ethernet is a family of 10 Mbit/s

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in ...

standards, which is the first generation of Ethernet standards. In 10BASE-X, the 10 represents its maximum throughput of 10

Mbit/s In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits ( bitrate), characters or symbols ( baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are mul ...

, BASE indicates its use of

baseband In telecommunications and signal processing, baseband is the range of frequencies occupied by a signal that has not been modulated to higher frequencies. Baseband signals typically originate from transducers, converting some other variable into ...

transmission, and X indicates the type of medium used.

Varieties

Fibre-based standards (10BASE-F)

''10BASE-F'', or sometimes ''10BASE-FX'', is a generic term for the family of 10 Mbit/s

standards using

fiber optic cable A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable, but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with ...

. In 10BASE-F, the 10 represents a maximum throughput of 10 Mbit/s, BASE indicates its use of

transmission, and F indicates that it relies on medium of fiber-optic cable. The technical standard requires two strands of 62.5/125 µm

multimode fiber Multi-mode optical fiber is a type of optical fiber mostly used for communication over short distances, such as within a building or on a campus. Multi-mode links can be used for data rates up to 100 Gbit/s. Multi-mode fiber has a fairly large ...

. One strand is used for data transmission while the other is used for reception, making 10BASE-F a