The why is related to the bandwidth you can pass through each cable.
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2025
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Also analog vs digital. Analog is a lot more tolerant of signal noise so if you have a frayed landline phone cord, it will still work but be staticy, but a frayed USB cable won't work for data.
No, you can get USB 2.0 speed through 2 wire phone cable as long as you have supplementary power.
The actual reason is the ampacity of the wires. Phone wires are 24 or or 26 gauge, so they can't carry the full current load of USB without melting
Hum... Yes, that is an issue too, but I don't think the OP's complaint is about USB 2.0 cables.
Or, at least, my old micro-USB cables take way more beating than any telephone I ever had, and they are almost all perfectly fine. I don't know if the largest issue is the shielding, wire thickness, or the width of the USB-C connector, but all of those play some part.
good idea. I wanna connect usb to a phone cable. oh wait, where to get a phone cable?
don't be rough with them? I have decades old cables that work fine, slow but fine
Right, I don't have any problem with USB cables failing. Treat them gently and they will keep working. Bend them at right angles, leave them in the floor and walk on them etc, and they will fail eventually.
Yeah but the joke here is partly that you could treat those old phone chords like hell and they would still work
What are you people doing to your usb cables? I'm still using some that are over a decade old.
They’re buying $9 3-packs? Probably just cheap. I’ve bought a couple gas station quality cables and they die pretty quick. The rest of my good cables I’v ehad for years.
If you want your cables to not suck, buy USB-IF certified cables from a reputable manufacturer. I can't even remember the last time I had any go bad.
In fact, for any technology you should look into the standards and certifying bodies so you can hopefully get a good item that will last.