This is a true novice question. I have seen a lot of graphs that two router are connected to each other by a serial cable, by serial port 0 and serial port 1. However, I am puzzled on how a serial cable can handle such a high volume of data transferring load between two routers? I assume that a serial cables are far slower than normal 10BaseT Ethernet cable, but exactly how fast is it , I have no idea. Could anyone please denote this as well? Thank you.

..are you sure they use serial cables, serial cables are usually used to Command Line Telnet to the Router not for joining them together. Please provide links.

Generally speaking you would interconnect them with a network cable or possibly a cascade cable if the units are equipped with them. Looking at the Cisco 2800 series router sitting in my office, there is no console port, only RJ-45's. If they were able to connect via serial, and I'm not saying older router's aren't able to, I doubt they'd be transferring network data on the serial cable. Most likely that would be to allow the two units to communicate with each other which wouldn't require a very fast connection.

It is common when connecting to T1's and their CSU/DSU to use a V.35 serial cable. See here: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios... "I assume that a serial cables are far slower.." Might want to think about that assumption. For example why would drives be going SATA [serial ATA] from PATA? Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search

Interesting reading wanderer. Having not played with Frame Relay I wasn't aware of that. I try to learn something new every day, today I've succeeded....lol Oh, and I should clarify my own reply. I said, "there is no console port, only RJ-45's". What I should have said was, "there is no serial console port, only an RJ-45 console port and the usual RJ-45 interfaces."