USB 3.0/3.1/3.2 Gen 1 aka the kind that can do 5 gbps can only use cables up to 3m in length. Meanwhile Ethernet uses a similar twisted pair copper cable, but can do 10 gbps over 100m.
What gives, why is USB so limited in terms of cable length?
In: 413
Cost and power. USB tries to minimize the cost and keep power usage low. Especially on the peripheral end. It’s not worth driving the cost up and potentially power usage up by magnitudes for distance that is almost never needed. The power and cost of multi-gig copper Ethernet can quite high (relatively), but since you likely only need one of them and distance is a very significant requirement it’s not really as much of an issue.
If you tired to use Ethernet like solution for communications with peripherals then the cost would be very high for very little benefit. You would need expensive controller for every port and in the peripheral plus the power draw simply for transferring would be in the multiple watt range rather than milliwatt range.
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