Ethernet Media Standards and Distances

Reference chart for common ethernet media types. Most of the distances listed are average. Quality fiber and quality vendor optics can typically perform better. This chart is not an exclusive list, and is notably missing WAN PHY and special CWDM and DWDM optics now commonly available.


10/100/1000 on Copper

StandardMediadistancenotes
10BASE-TCat-3 (2 pair)100m 
100BASE-TCat-5 (2 pair)100m 
1000BASE-TCat-5 (4 pair)100mCat-5e recommended


100 Mbit Fiber

StandardMediadistancewavelength
100BASE-FX62.5µm MMF2km1300nm


Gigabit Fiber

StandardMediadistancewavelengthnotes
1000BASE-SX 62.5µm MMF 220m 850nm
1000BASE-SX 50µm MMF 500m 850nm
1000BASE-LX 62.5µm MMF 550m 1310nm requires launch conditioning
1000BASE-LX 50µm MMF 550m 1310nm requires launch conditioning
1000BASE-LX/LH SMF 10km 1310nm typical distance
1000BASE-ZX SMF 70km 1550nm not standardized


10 Gigabit Fiber

StandardMediadistancewavelengthnotes
10GBASE-SR 62.5µm MMF 26m-82m 850nm
10GBASE-LRM 62.5µm MMF 220m 1310nm
10GBASE-LX4 62.5µm MMF 300m 1300nm CWDM
10GBASE-SR 50µm OM3 300m 850nm
10GBASE-LRM 50µm OM3 260m 1310nm
10GBASE-LX4 50µm OM3 300m 1300nm CWDM
10GBASE-LR SMF 10km 1310nm known to do ~15km
10GBASE-LRMSMF300m1310nm..?not standardized but certified by some manufacturers such as Cisco

10GBASE-LX4 SMF 10km 1300nm CWDM
10GBASE-ER SMF 40km 1550nm
10GBASE-ZR SMF 80-120km 1550nm not standardized, be careful about chromatic dispersion penalty


10 Gigabit Copper

StandardMediadistancenotes
10GBASE-CX4 Cat-5e 15m802.3ap
10GBASE-T Cat-6 Unshielded 55m 802.3an
10GBASE-T Cat-6 Shielded 100m 802.3an
10GBASE-T Cat-6a 100m 802.3an
10GBASE-T Cat-7 100m 802.3an
10GBASE-TSR10 ? < 10m Low power autonegotiation. Pre-standard
10GBASE-TSR30 ? < 30m Low power autonegotiation. Pre-standard
SFP+ Direct Attach twin-ax 1-10m


40 Gigabit

40GBASE-CR4 Cat-7? 10m802.3ba
40GBASE-SR4 OM3 MMF 100m850nm, 4 strands
40GBASE-SR4 OM4 MMF 125m850nm, 4 strands
40GBASE-LR4 SMF 10km(4) 10G ~1310nm waves
40GBASE-FR SMF 10km(1) 40G 1550nm wave


below information graciously provided by a colleague at ESNet on 2019/07/10 

Distance

Media

Technology

Standard

Transceiver type

100GBASE-LR4

10 km

SMF

4x25G CWDM NRZ

4 wavelengths around 1300nm

802.3ba

QSFP28

CFP4

100GBASE-ER4

40 km

SMF

4x25G CWDM NRZ

4 wavelengths around 1300nm

802.3ba

QSFP28

100GBASE-SR10

100 m OM3 150 m OM4

MMF MPO

10x10G parallel NRZ 850 nm

802.3ba

CFP2

100GBASE-SR4

70 m OM3

100 m OM4

8-pair MMF MPO

4x25G parallel NRZ 850 nm

802.3bm

QSFP28

CFP4

100GBASE-SR2

100 m

2-pair Multimode

2x50G PAM-4 850nm

802.3cd

CFP2

100GBase-SWDM4

75m OM3 100m OM4

MMF

4x25 WDM waves: 850, 880, 910, 940 nm

QSFP28

100GBase-CWDM4

2km

SMF

4 x 25 1310 nm λs

FEC is mandatory

QSFP28

100GBase-CLR4

2km

SMF

4 x 25 1310 nm λs

Compatibility with CWDM4, except FEC is optional

QSFP28

100GBase-PSM4

500m

2-pair SMF

QSFP28

100GBASE-DR2

500m

Parallel SMF (MPO12)

802.3cd

100GBASE-DF2

500m

SMF

2 x 50

802.3cd

 

400GBASE-LR8

10 km

SMF

8x50G CWDM PAM4

8 wavelengths around 1300nm

802.3bs

QSFP-DD

CFP8

400GBASE-FR8

2 km

SMF

8x50G CWDM PAM4

8 wavelengths around 1300nm

802.3bs

QSFP-DD

CFP8

400GBASE-DR4

500 m

4-pair SMF

4x100G parallel PAM4 1300nm

802.3bs

CFP8

400GBASE-SR16

100 m OM4/OM5

16-pair MMF MPO

16x25G parallel NRZ 850nm

802.3bs

400GBASE-DCO

Q1-2020

100km

2-pair

tbd

OSFP

400GBASE-SR8

100m

8-pair MMF

8x50G parallel NRA or PAM-4 (projected to replace -SR16)

tbd

QSFP-DD




Keywordsdistance multimode singlemode media fiber copper speed   Doc ID7829
OwnerMichael H.GroupNetwork Services
Created2008-05-29 19:00:00Updated2019-07-10 09:19:32
SitesNetwork Services
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