Technically USB A male-to-female extension cables are also forbidden, at least in terms of USB 1/1.1/2.0 and were never supposed to exist. That’s not to say that they didn’t, because they certainly do, and sometimes even manage to work in the process. But the original USB spec specifically envisaged that a passive extension cable should never be available to the consumer, probably for the simple reason that the maximum allowable cable length was 5 meters with no ifs, ands, or buts. And USB 3.x is only 3 meters. If allowed, people would inevitably daisy-chain so many cables together that their connected device would stop working, and then whine at the manufacturer/retailer/Microsoft about it being “defective,” so this was nipped in the bud in advance.
All that said, I have nevertheless accumulated about 20 of the damn things over the years in varying lengths and levels of quality. I have violated the official cable length spec with impunity and more often than not gotten away with it, albeit usually only for low-demand devices like keyboards.
I had one at work that was some 15m long between a pc and a barcode scanner, in a really noisy environment with 3ph inverters and motors etc. Worked like a charm
Got one stretching 7 feet between my media center computer and a webcam across the room (so I can take video calls on my tv from my recliner). Works great for that and whatever else I plug into it because I’m too lazy to feel for the USB port behind the computer.
It’s not a matter of banned, it’s a matter of physics. Every connection standard has a maximum length specification, the point beyond which you will not get reliable data transmission due to either signal loss via impedance in the wires, or timing issues.
I assume you mean male to male? Female to male type A is a simple extension.
Technically USB A male-to-female extension cables are also forbidden, at least in terms of USB 1/1.1/2.0 and were never supposed to exist. That’s not to say that they didn’t, because they certainly do, and sometimes even manage to work in the process. But the original USB spec specifically envisaged that a passive extension cable should never be available to the consumer, probably for the simple reason that the maximum allowable cable length was 5 meters with no ifs, ands, or buts. And USB 3.x is only 3 meters. If allowed, people would inevitably daisy-chain so many cables together that their connected device would stop working, and then whine at the manufacturer/retailer/Microsoft about it being “defective,” so this was nipped in the bud in advance.
All that said, I have nevertheless accumulated about 20 of the damn things over the years in varying lengths and levels of quality. I have violated the official cable length spec with impunity and more often than not gotten away with it, albeit usually only for low-demand devices like keyboards.
I had one at work that was some 15m long between a pc and a barcode scanner, in a really noisy environment with 3ph inverters and motors etc. Worked like a charm
Got one stretching 7 feet between my media center computer and a webcam across the room (so I can take video calls on my tv from my recliner). Works great for that and whatever else I plug into it because I’m too lazy to feel for the USB port behind the computer.
If it’s a Universal serial bus why should connecting things over long distances be banned?
It’s not a matter of banned, it’s a matter of physics. Every connection standard has a maximum length specification, the point beyond which you will not get reliable data transmission due to either signal loss via impedance in the wires, or timing issues.