10BASE-5, one of several physical media specified by IEEE 802.3 for use in an Ethernet local area network (LAN), consists of Thickwire coaxial cable with a maximum segment length of 500 meters. Like other specified media, 10BASE-2 supports Ethernet's 10 Mbps data rate.
In addition to 10BASE-5, 10 megabit Ethernet can be implemented with these media types:
- 10BASE-2 (Thinwire coaxial cable with a maximum segment length of 185 meters)
- 10BASE-F (optical fiber cable)
- 10BASE-T (ordinary telephone twisted pair wire)
- 10BASE-36 (broadband multi-channel coaxial cable with a maximum segment length of 3,600 meters)
This designation is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) shorthand identifier. The "10" in the media type designation refers to the transmission speed of 10 Mbps. The "BASE" refers to baseband signalling, which means that only Ethernet signals are carried on the medium (or, with 10BASE-36, on a single channel). The "T" represents twisted-pair; the "F" represents fiber optic cable; and the "2", "5", and "36" refer to the coaxial cable segment length (the 185 meter length has been rounded up to "2" for 200).