Optical & Physical Layer

Repeater

English

Overview

A device that amplifies and reshapes a signal to extend the reach of a cable.

Details

Operating at the physical layer (Layer 1) of the OSI model, a repeater simply amplifies the electrical signal and does not recognize MAC addresses. Standalone repeaters have largely been superseded by switches and hubs, but they're still used, for example, to relay signals over long fiber-optic runs.

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