RJ45: The Accidental Standard That Powers Ethernet
The term 'RJ45' is a ubiquitous misnomer in networking, originally designating a telephony connector that differs from today's Ethernet ports. This article explores how a Bell System telephone standard from the 1970s mistakenly became the name for 8P8C Ethernet interfaces, and why this accidental terminology endures as the backbone of modern twisted-pair cabling.