I took the photo above in a fancy Buenos Aires hotel room, while reading “The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google” by Nicholas Carr.

I do recommend the book, but I think he missed one great observation.  While appliance voltage and plugs are non-standard world wide: the wired ethernet is standard.  On the far right is 220, and in the middle is 110, the left is the RJ45 running the standard of between 0 and 2.5 volts depending on speeds.  (100 Base-TX uses +/-1 and 0 volts.)

Upon further reflection it isn’t strange that Ethernet is a world standard. The unfamiliar 220 volts and connectors of Argentina ends at the country’s border, where the Ethernet will connect me with friends in Atlanta 5013 miles or 8067 km away.