The Physical Layer's choice of transmission medium profoundly affects the performance, cost, security, and reliability of a network. The OSI Model Simulator supports all five major media types — making it a powerful tool for understanding how physical choices ripple up through all seven OSI layers.
| Medium | Speed | Max Distance | Security | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethernet | Up to 10 Gbps+ | 100m (Cat6a) | High (physical access) | Low |
| Wi-Fi | Up to ~9.6 Gbps (Wi-Fi 6) | ~100m indoor | Medium (WPA3) | Low |
| Fiber Optic | Terabits/s | 100s of km | Very High | High |
| Coaxial | Up to 1 Gbps | 500m (RG-8) | Medium | Medium |
| Radio | Variable (5G: Gbps) | km to global (satellite) | Low–Medium | Variable |
Ethernet: The Reliable Standard
Ethernet is the dominant wired networking standard in homes, offices, and data centers. Using twisted-pair copper cables (Cat5e, Cat6, Cat6a), it provides reliable, high-speed connectivity with predictable latency. The IEEE 802.3 standard governs Ethernet, and modern variants include 1GbE, 10GbE, 25GbE, 40GbE, and 100GbE.
Wi-Fi: Wireless Freedom
Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) eliminated the need for physical cables in most consumer settings. Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and Wi-Fi 6E deliver impressive speeds, but shared medium access, interference, and radio propagation challenges mean it will never fully replace wired Ethernet for critical applications.
Fiber Optic: The Internet's Backbone
Fiber optic cables carry data as pulses of light through glass or plastic strands. They're immune to electromagnetic interference, support enormous bandwidth, and can span continents — literally. Every major internet exchange, submarine cable, and data center interconnect uses fiber.
Coaxial Cable: The Cable TV Legacy
Coaxial cable — familiar from cable TV connections — consists of a central conductor surrounded by insulating layers and a braided metal shield. DOCSIS-based cable internet connections (common from ISPs like Comcast) use coaxial as the last-mile medium.
Radio: Wireless at Scale
From the cellular 5G network in your pocket to satellite internet delivered by Starlink, radio-based transmission enables wireless communication at every scale. At the Physical Layer, radio modulation schemes (OFDM, QAM) determine how bits are encoded onto radio frequencies.
Switch between all five media in the OSI Model Simulator and observe how the Physical Layer visualization changes for each medium.
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