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Networking & Telecommunications vocabulary · Cabling and Fibre

Patch cable

Meaning in networking & telecommunications, with examples

nounCommon term

In networking & telecommunications, patch cable means: A short cable with a connector at each end, used to connect devices to each other or to a patch panel, for example a switch port to a patch panel port.

In Turkish: patch kablo, ara bağlantı kablosu

How it is used

Also called a patch cord or, in speech, just a patch. It comes in copper (RJ45) and fibre versions, in many lengths and colours, and teams often use colours to show the purpose, such as red for firewall links. Faulty patch cables are a surprisingly common cause of errors.

Example sentences

  1. Swap the patch cable first; the port errors might just be a bad cable.

  2. We need twenty one-metre blue patch cables for the new switch.

Common collocations

  • fibre patch cable
  • replace a patch cable
  • patch cord
  • one-metre patch cable
  • patch panelA panel, usually mounted in a rack, where the permanent cables from offices or other rooms end in rows of numbered ports, so that short cables can connect them to switches.
  • EthernetThe standard technology (IEEE 802.3) for wired local networks, which defines how devices send frames over copper or fibre cables at speeds from 10 Mbps up to hundreds of gigabits per second.
  • switchA device with many ports that connects computers, phones, printers and other equipment inside the same local network and forwards each frame only to the port where its destination is.
  • fibre optic cableA cable that carries data as pulses of light through very thin strands of glass, allowing much higher speeds and much longer distances than copper.

More terms: Cabling and Fibre

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