I worked for IBM for many years and never had speed issues with their Token Rings. I do suspect that we always had the most current technologies, savvy tech’s, and its ultimate speeds available at inexpensive internal costs. I believe that token ring failed because of its exorbitant pricing by IBM. The token Ring priced itself out of the market and the lower cost Ethernet prevailed.

gary

 

Gary, did they ever get 16Mb Token Ring working over unshielded twisted pair? That, to me, was the breakthrough for Ethernet. No more thick-net or thin-net or ridiculous cable length limitations. And you are right. They didn't call 10-BASE-T "Cheapernet" for no reason.

 

I remember my Token Ring cabling as a shielded twisted-pair cable (can’t be too careful about crosstalk or electromagnetic induction, you know ), later IBM converted to conventional unshielded twisted pair.

gary