CertiGuide to Network+  9  Chapter 0011:  Network Hardware       9  III  Layer 1 – Physical Layer

Hub 1 MAU

A Repeater is a small device that extends the signal on a cable run, allowing you to work around the distance limitations on network cabling that we saw in chapter 2. The repeater does this by taking the signal and re-generating it so that it can travel longer distances, somewhat like an amplifier allows sound to travel farther. Typically there would be two ports on the repeater, one for the signal coming in from one side of the network, and the other for the signal going out to the other side of it. The repeater may function as a multi-port repeater, regenerating signals that run across multiple cables. A repeater is most commonly used to extend cable runs in backbones. In rare cases it may be used when connecting an important client workstation to the network, if that PC’s distance from the other devices on the network is too great for a standard cable run to be sufficient.

As noted above, frequently repeater functionality is included in network hubs.

Hub 1 MAU