The medium through which computers communicate (over which data are exchanged). The number of bit per second (bps) a medium can transmit determines the medium speed. A medium speed is usually measured in Kbps (kilobit per second = one thousand bps) and Mbps (megabit per second = one million bps). A communication medium may be a wire or it may be wireless. The communication medium between two computers may be composed of parts that are wires and parts that are wireless. Wire media have three types. Ranked based upon speed from the slowest to the fastest, they are: twisted-pair, coaxial, and fiber-optic. Data are represented as electrical signals over twisted-pair and coaxial media and as light beams over fiber-optic media. Wireless media are in general faster than wire media. Data transmitted over wireless media are represented as radio waves. Using wireless media requires radio wave stations and may require utilizing satellites.
