# What do you call the kind of cable that connects your router to a computer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2025, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918 "2025-08-10T23:01:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/21 "2025-08-11T07:59:18Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > telco infrastructure At least ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) died, if you remember that. It was such a telco idea. The last gasp of circuit switching vs. packet switching. But telcos couldn’t help themselves. 53-byte packets. Who comes up with this stuff? Oh, right, 5 byte header plus a 48-byte payload, chosen because… the US wanted 64 bytes, while Europe wanted 32, so… they just averaged the two numbers together. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/22 "2025-08-11T09:30:39Z")
IT guy for over 30 years here, and I’ve always called them patch cables. Every other expert knew what I meant when I talked about them. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/23 "2025-08-11T11:50:00Z")
Since pretty much every term has been mentioned already, I’ll just add that a slang term would be “a drop cable” because it connects “a network drop” which, in an enterprise situation, would be a “drop box” with an RJ45 input that would accommodate a “drop cable”, which has the RJ45 output. In your home, that could translate to a router with an RJ45 input accommodating an RJ45 cable. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/24 "2025-08-11T14:35:38Z")
Ethernet cable first but network or patch are right up there. I want to take the opportunity to gripe about some manufacturers’ poor decision to, at this late stage, use RJ45 connectors for non-Ethernet use. I’m aware of devices that use RJ45 for RS232 serial ports, for auxiliary keypads and buttons, for discrete I/O channels for relay outs and sensor inputs. Yes, that connector might have been convenient (is it, even?) but you’ll just have to choose another one, RJ45 is for ethernet. Similarly, RJ11 is for telephones (and DK), that familiar bladed socket on the wall is for 120vac, the automotive lighter plug is 12 VDC (nominal), red is hot water/blue is cold. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/25 "2025-08-11T14:47:44Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > > > The other has OM3 optical fiber carrying 10GBASE-SR > > Why would you need such a connection on any computer that wasn’t a data center server? I have a similar setup. 10GB over CAT 6, to a 10GB switch, then to my Synology NAS. For quite some time I did all of my video editing using Final Cut Pro over the network to my NAS. The only reason why I finally stopped was because I could buy cheap SSD storage and Final Cut Pro has some funny issues when you aren’t using local storage (And Apple says not to do so). ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/26 "2025-08-11T19:33:37Z")
Ethernet cable. But from the non-technical fellow inhabitants of my house, I’ve heard the following Computer wires. Laptop wires. Wifi cords (my personal favorite) The blue string things. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/27 "2025-08-11T20:08:48Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Wifi cords (my personal favorite) I love the idea of a wireless cord. Anyway, “ethernet cable”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/28 "2025-08-11T20:21:54Z")
On a related note… It’s funny how “wifi” has become a substitute for “the internet”. As in “I can’t connect to wifi” when in fact they’re connected to a wireless LAN just fine, but that LAN’s router’s WAN side is down or whatever. I used to deal with this a lot on the airplanes at work. We have a satellite data link to the outside world. And we have a media server on the plane. And we have wifi hotspots throughout the plane. Connecting to the wifi gets you access to the local media server. But if the satellite link is down, you’re not going to retrieve email or read the Dope or CNN’s news site. The onboard stuff was highly reliable, but the satellite link much less so. We got so many reports from the back of “The wifi is down; folks are having to watch the movies.” Well, no, that’s not how it works. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/29 "2025-08-11T20:24:18Z")
“I can’t connect to wifi” means they don’t have data, even when they’re out and about. “Oh, you need wifi for this app?” means “you need data for this app?” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/30 "2025-08-11T20:25:30Z")
Yeah, pretty much. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/31 "2025-08-11T20:28:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It’s funny how “wifi” has become a substitute for “the internet”. > **[Synecdoche](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synecdoche)** > > Synecdoche (/sɪˈnɛkdəki/ sih-NECK-də-kee) is a type of metonymy; it is a figure of speech that uses a term for a part of something to refer to the whole (pars pro toto), or vice versa (totum pro parte). The term is derived from Ancient Greek συνεκδοχή (sunekdokhḗ) 'simultaneous understanding'.\[a\] Common English synecdoches include suits for businessmen, wheels for automobile, and boots for soldiers. > Synecdoche is a rhetorical trope and a kind of metonymy—a figure of speech using a term to den... Even though wifi is only a small component of the set of things you need to connect to the internet, it’s the most visible part from the user’s standpoint. So it’s natural that it would be the “part that refers to the whole”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/32 "2025-08-11T20:35:46Z")
Agree that’s linguistically natural. Doesn’t mean it’s not also a PITA to deal with when you’re trying to get facts from your users to do actual troubleshooting. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/33 "2025-08-11T20:38:47Z")
That’s for sure. Hence why when troubleshooting, I never ask things like “are you connected to wifi?”, but rather something like “do you see that pizza slice icon in the upper-right of your screen?” ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/34 "2025-08-11T20:44:19Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > So it’s natural that it would be the “part that refers to the whole”. On that note I’ve recently heard people refer to Comcast (or whoever) as their “wifi provider”. In some sense that’s true for some people; you can rent a wifi router from Comcast as part of your internet plan. But of course Comcast is providing more than just the wifi part. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/35 "2025-08-11T20:53:50Z")
I work for a company that sells a service that includes consumer electronics. They connect to multiple services via Wifi. I am one of the engineers who works on Wifi connection/stability/reliability etc. Several years ago we added to all our products a utility which ping a well known website once per minute. The number of “Wifi bugs” I’ve thrown back over the fence to be reassigned to one of the other teams based on that ping utility is staggering. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/36 "2025-08-11T21:06:21Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I want to take the opportunity to gripe about some manufacturers’ poor decision to, at this late stage, use RJ45 connectors for non-Ethernet use. The only one I know of is in Lego robotics kits, to connect the brain to the sensors and motors. There, just the fact that they use the same for both, whatever it is, because a sensor plugged into a motor port, or vice-versa, won’t work. > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Even though wifi is only a small component of the set of things you need to connect to the internet, it’s the most visible part from the user’s standpoint. So it’s natural that it would be the “part that refers to the whole”. Also because, when the connection to the Internet is down, the fault is often (not always) with the wifi. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/37 "2025-08-11T21:14:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The only one I know of is in Lego robotics kits, to connect the brain to the sensors and motors. I’ve used it for my own projects. Works for power and data. Can make my own cables of whatever size I need. Ports are chunky enough to be easy to work with on a hobby scale. Nice locking connector without annoying screws. What’s not to like? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/38 "2025-08-11T21:28:38Z")
Another vote for “Ethernet cable”. And this thread reminds me that i need to return the one on my desk to my husband, to return it to wherever he stores it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/39 "2025-08-11T23:21:09Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > With overhead, 1Gb tops out at about 100 MB/s. But even a very basic RAID setup like on my file server can hit 500+ MB/s on spinning discs, and if I used SSDs instead they’d easily saturate even 40Gb Ethernet, let alone 10Gb. I don’t know a ton about tech, but how are you getting 500+ MBps on spinning discs? I thought 3.5 discs topped out at about 250 MBps. At least mine do. But I’m using external drives with a USB cable. I have a 2x2 USB-C cable and an external SSD that can get up to 900 MBps but I couldn’t imagine getting those speeds on a spinning disc HD. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918/40 "2025-08-11T23:27:25Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I thought 3.5 discs topped out at about 250 MBps. Individually, yes. But I have 4 drives, with one as a spare, so essentially the data rates are 3x the individual speed. Also, I do have a couple of SSDs which operate as a cache, so for common transfers I can just about saturate the 10Gb. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-kind-of-cable-that-connects-your-router-to-a-computer/1021918.md?page=3)