SOLVED - What is the difference between blue and yellow ethernet cable?

wazza

Friend is on virgin media broadband. She had a new modem (black) delivered to replace the old one (silver). The old one was connected to the pc via a usb cable. She has bought a netgear wireless router which came with a yellow ethernet cable. The old modem had a faulty ethernet connector the reason for the new one.

When she connected the new modem to the pc using a yellow ethernet cable (from the wirless router box) she rang virgin media to connect the new modem. They had problems connecting/activating the modem. They said the ethernet light should light up or flash. So they sent another modem. Same problem there. Tried a different ethernet cable (standard grey cable which i know works) and the same problem. The virgin media helpdesk said we should be using a blue ethernet cable which normally comes with the modem. They will send her one.

is there a difference between the blue and yellow ethernet cables?

NickMidgley

Maybe it needs a crossover cable instead of a straight one, or vice versa.

This page explains it quite well.

Marty_J

The colour doesn't make any difference. They're probably colour-coded for an easier setup (i.e. plug the blue ethernet cable into the blue port, and so on).

Cat695

Colours mean nothing when it comes to ethernet cables (just go into PC world as see the different colours)

But when you do get in the difference in the wire connections inside or what rating (I don't know the techniccal term is) such as CAT5/CAT6 etc (more to do with speed)

but what you can get is a cross over cable (looks the same as a normal ethernet cable).....which joins two pcs together without the need for a router/hub etc....but very rarely used in the home. however the cables inside erm cross over

Bikertov

Cat695 wrote: »

Colours mean nothing when it comes to ethernet cables (just go into PC world as see the different colours)

But when you do get in the difference in the wire connections inside or what rating (I don't know the techniccal term is) such as CAT5/CAT6 etc (more to do with speed)

but what you can get is a cross over cable (looks the same as a normal ethernet cable).....which joins two pcs together without the need for a router/hub etc....but very rarely used in the home. however the cables inside erm cross over

Colours are used to make identification easier - nothing else.

As said by other posters, it MAY be a cross-over cable, but even so a lot of routers wiull auto-detect a crossover.

John_Gray

Coloured ethernet patch cables? Apart from the ubiquitous grey...
I have red, green, yellow, blue, black, white, and I am aware of orange, purple, and, 'specially for all girlie systems administrators, pink!

Maybe a bit over the top, but quite useful if you have a pair of 24-port patch panels and need rapidly to find which cable comes from NIC 2 port 1 of one of your servers...

diable

If you have a patch panel at work then as an example you would use red for data and yellow for voice and so and and so forth to make life easier, for home use it doesn't really make any difference apart from the support guy asking the user have you plugged the blue cable to the blue port"

pcombo

Only colours that matter are the ones that go into the RJ45 connector and nothing else.

Bikertov

pcombo wrote: »

Only colours that matter are the ones that go into the RJ45 connector and nothing else.

The colur of the cable should not be important - so long as it can do the job.

Now, if the connector is male or female - that makes a big difference.

We still discriminate in that area within IT :rotfl:

custardy

the last few modems ive had from VM have had yellow cat 5E cables included

pcombo

yes the copper cables inside of the plastic covering matter if there put in the wrong way to the RJ45 then it wont work.

So i was saying the only cables that matter is the ones that go into the RJ45 connector which is true.