Crossover Cable vs Ethernet Cable: What’s the Difference?

Ethernet patch cable is usually divided into crossover cable and straight cable through different network applications. Straight cable is a common and widely used type of network cable, while crossover cable is a special type of Ethernet cable. So, when making a comparison of crossover cable vs. Ethernet cable, it’s really the comparison between Ethernet crossover cable and straight cable (referred to as Ethernet cable in this post).

Crossover Cable Vs Ethernet Cable: What Is An Ethernet Cable?

Ethernet cable/straight-through cable, such as Cat5, Cat5e, and Cat6 cable, etc., is a type of twisted-pair cable that is mainly used in local area networks to connect two different types of devices, such as in following situations:

• A computer to a cable LAN port / DSL modem
• A computer to a normal port of a switch / hub
• A WAN port of a router to a LAN port of the cable/DSL modem
• A router LAN port to a switch/hub uplink port
• Connect 2 switches/hubs with one of them using an uplink port and the other using the normal port

Actually, when it comes to a crossover cable vs. an Ethernet cable, it is unavoidable to think about your cabling system. As we know, T568A and T568B are two ANSI, TIA and EIA recognized standards for Ethernet cable wiring. They differ in the order of the 8 wire colors. For T568A, the color order of the 8 pins is white, green, white orange, blue, white blue, orange, white brown, and brown from pin 1 to pin 8 respectively. Whereas, in the T568B wiring standard, there are two color order swaps compared to T568A, pin 1 to pin 3 and pin 2 to pin 6.

Direct connect cable uses the same wiring standard at both ends. That is, both ends (connector A and connector B) use T568A wiring standard or both ends use T568B wiring standard with the same color.

Crossover Cable Vs. Ethernet Cable: What Is A Crossover Cable?

The crossover cable like Cat5, Cat5e crossover cable, etc. is a type of twisted pair cable used to connect two devices of the same type, such as “DTE to DTE” or “DCE to DCE” in the following situations:

• one computer to another computer
• One switch to another switch connecting a normal port on both sides
• One hub to another hub connecting a normal port on both sides
• A router LAN port to a normal switch/hub port

Unlike straight Ethernet cable, crossover network cable uses two different cabling standards at both ends (connector A and connector B). One end uses the T568A wiring standard, and the other end uses the T568A wiring standard. Below is the crossover cable wiring diagram:

What is the color code of the crossover cable?

The crossover cable color code is as follows:

1. White/Orange
2. Orange 2. Orange
3. White/Green
4. Blue
5. Blue White/Blue
6. Green
7. White/Brown
8. Brown

How do you wire a crossover cable?

A crossover cable is a type of Ethernet cable used to connect two computing devices directly to each other. Unlike a standard Ethernet cable, which is used to connect a device to a network hub or switch, a crossover cable bypasses the hub or switch and connects the devices directly together. This can be useful if you want to connect two devices and don’t have a network hub or switch handy, or if you want to create a temporary network without one.
The easiest way to connect a crossover cable is to use two standard Ethernet cables and a crossover adapter. A crossover adapter is a small device that has two Ethernet ports and a button. To use it, simply plug one end of each Ethernet cable into an Ethernet port on the adapter and push the button. The adapter will automatically cross over the cables, allowing you to connect the two devices directly to each other.
If you don’t have a crossover adapter, you can connect a crossover cable with two standard Ethernet cables. To do this, you will have to manually cross the strands of the cables. To do this, start by untangling the wire pairs in each cable so that you have eight individual wires. Next, take the first thread of the first cable and the third of the second and twist them. Repeat this operation with the second and fourth wire, the fifth and seventh, and the sixth and eighth. Finally, twist the two remaining wires. Once all eight wires are twisted together, you can connect each end of the cable to the corresponding Ethernet port on each device.

Conclution

In short, the similarity of the comparison between crossover cable and Ethernet cable is obvious. Both the Ethernet cable and the crossover cable comply with the T568A and T568B wiring standards with 8 differently colored pins on each side of the connector. While the former connects two different types of devices to each other, like “a computer to a switch”, and the latter connects two devices of the same type to each other, like “a computer to another computer”.