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That's strange, I've never encountered a usb-c cable that did not support data at all. My understanding (and the article suggests) that charging and data are fi

That's strange, I've never encountered a usb-c cable that did not support data at all. My understanding (and the article suggests) that charging and data are fine in general, but just not as fast as the device can support. Basically they will charge or transfer data at regular usb or micro-usb speeds.

MatmaRex 6y ago
I haven't seen one either but I can easily believe it, as there are proprietary magnetic USB-C adapters that do not support data (they only have 5 or 6 pins). I can imagine a "normal" cable behaving the same way.
- Dylan16807 6y ago
  Two pins for power, two pins for data, a pin or two for cable detection, what's the problem with that number of pins?
  - dogma1138 6y ago
    2 data pins is USB 1.X/2.X USB 3.X requires 6 data pins at a minimum. USB type-C cables that only support charging will only have 5-8 pins 1-2 GND, 2-4 VBUS (power) and 1-2 CC (cable connect/config channel) pins. The standard config for charge only cables (e.g. the Nintendo Switch charger) is 2-2-1.
    - Dylan16807 6y ago
      > 2 data pins is USB 1.X/2.X USB 3.X requires 6 data pins at a minimum. USB-C cables don't have to support 3.X to support data. You only need the two pins. > The standard config for charge only cables (e.g. the Nintendo Switch charger) is 2-2-1. That's a shame. It's really not that much effort to support 2.0 data.
trav4225 6y ago
I definitely have encountered this. One was even a device intended for development via USB. For some strange reason, the USB-C cable shipped with the product only supported power, requiring the customer to buy another cable for data transfer.
- sackofmugs 6y ago
  Just to clarify, are you talking about a usb-c to usb-a cable, or a usb-c to usb-c cable? I think the usb-c to usb-a cables are just temporary while we get to usb-c everything, and so are not implemented that well. With usb-c to usb-c cables, I've never had a problem with power or charging.
  - ender341341 6y ago
    nope, there are plenty of power only usb-c to usb-c cables. Even more fun, many of them don't properly list what power they can handle and fry your device or catch fire if you put to much through them!
    - Dylan16807 6y ago
      > Even more fun, many of them don't properly list what power they can handle and fry your device or catch fire if you put to much through them! That doesn't make sense. Any cable will be capable of many more volts than USB will ever put through it. How is anything going to get fried? I suppose a cable could get too warm, but lying about capacity only takes you from 3 to 5 amps. That little bit extra should never be enough to cause a fire. And if it can't even handle 3, then the problem was not that it was lying about capacity. It also costs extra money to lie about being a 5 amp cable since that requires a chip.
      - sp332 6y ago
        The only case I know of where a USB-C cable fried something, it was horribly broken. https://www.engadget.com/2016-02-03-benson-leung-chromebook-pixel-usb-type-c-test.html https://www.engadget.com/2016-02-03-benson-leung-chromebook-...
atombender 6y ago
The first MacBook model with USB-C shipped with a USB 2.0 cable for its charger that only supported charging. I don't know if this is still true, though (I haven't checked the one that came with my newest one).
- sackofmugs 6y ago
  Do you have a source? I looked for a while and couldn't find anything except ones that say it supports data, just usb 2.0 speeds.
  - itsspring 6y ago
    Found it here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 > Compared with Apple USB-C Charge Cable The Apple USB-C Charge Cable is longer (2m) and also supports charging, but data-transfer speed is limited to 480Mbps (USB 2.0) and it doesn't support video. The Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cable has Thunderbolt logo on the sleeve of each connector. Either cable can be used with the Apple USB-C Power Adapter.
    - sackofmugs 6y ago
      Right, but it literally says there it supports data transfer. So it's not charging only.
itsspring 6y ago
Ya, I found the answer on Apple's site: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 > Compared with Apple USB-C Charge Cable The Apple USB-C Charge Cable is longer (2m) and also supports charging, but data-transfer speed is limited to 480Mbps (USB 2.0) and it doesn't support video. The Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cable has Thunderbolt logo on the sleeve of each connector. Either cable can be used with the Apple USB-C Power Adapter.
dogma1138 6y ago
The cable that comes with the Mac chargers is only a USB 2.0 + USB-C power delivery the cable and doesn’t support usb 3.0/3.1 data rates or TB. USB type-C cables that support power delivery can have 2 ground pints, 4 VBUS (power) pins and 1 CC (cable connect/config channel) pin.
kelnos 6y ago
I specifically bought a charge-only USB-C cable so I wouldn't have to worry about plugging my phone into an untrusted port to charge.

MatmaRex 6y ago

I haven't seen one either but I can easily believe it, as there are proprietary magnetic USB-C adapters that do not support data (they only have 5 or 6 pins). I can imagine a "normal" cable behaving the same way.

Dylan16807 6y ago
Two pins for power, two pins for data, a pin or two for cable detection, what's the problem with that number of pins?
- dogma1138 6y ago
  2 data pins is USB 1.X/2.X USB 3.X requires 6 data pins at a minimum. USB type-C cables that only support charging will only have 5-8 pins 1-2 GND, 2-4 VBUS (power) and 1-2 CC (cable connect/config channel) pins. The standard config for charge only cables (e.g. the Nintendo Switch charger) is 2-2-1.
  - Dylan16807 6y ago
    > 2 data pins is USB 1.X/2.X USB 3.X requires 6 data pins at a minimum. USB-C cables don't have to support 3.X to support data. You only need the two pins. > The standard config for charge only cables (e.g. the Nintendo Switch charger) is 2-2-1. That's a shame. It's really not that much effort to support 2.0 data.

trav4225 6y ago

I definitely have encountered this. One was even a device intended for development via USB. For some strange reason, the USB-C cable shipped with the product only supported power, requiring the customer to buy another cable for data transfer.

sackofmugs 6y ago
Just to clarify, are you talking about a usb-c to usb-a cable, or a usb-c to usb-c cable? I think the usb-c to usb-a cables are just temporary while we get to usb-c everything, and so are not implemented that well. With usb-c to usb-c cables, I've never had a problem with power or charging.
- ender341341 6y ago
  nope, there are plenty of power only usb-c to usb-c cables. Even more fun, many of them don't properly list what power they can handle and fry your device or catch fire if you put to much through them!
  - Dylan16807 6y ago
    > Even more fun, many of them don't properly list what power they can handle and fry your device or catch fire if you put to much through them! That doesn't make sense. Any cable will be capable of many more volts than USB will ever put through it. How is anything going to get fried? I suppose a cable could get too warm, but lying about capacity only takes you from 3 to 5 amps. That little bit extra should never be enough to cause a fire. And if it can't even handle 3, then the problem was not that it was lying about capacity. It also costs extra money to lie about being a 5 amp cable since that requires a chip.
    - sp332 6y ago
      The only case I know of where a USB-C cable fried something, it was horribly broken. https://www.engadget.com/2016-02-03-benson-leung-chromebook-pixel-usb-type-c-test.html https://www.engadget.com/2016-02-03-benson-leung-chromebook-...

atombender 6y ago

The first MacBook model with USB-C shipped with a USB 2.0 cable for its charger that only supported charging. I don't know if this is still true, though (I haven't checked the one that came with my newest one).

sackofmugs 6y ago
Do you have a source? I looked for a while and couldn't find anything except ones that say it supports data, just usb 2.0 speeds.
- itsspring 6y ago
  Found it here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 > Compared with Apple USB-C Charge Cable The Apple USB-C Charge Cable is longer (2m) and also supports charging, but data-transfer speed is limited to 480Mbps (USB 2.0) and it doesn't support video. The Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cable has Thunderbolt logo on the sleeve of each connector. Either cable can be used with the Apple USB-C Power Adapter.
  - sackofmugs 6y ago
    Right, but it literally says there it supports data transfer. So it's not charging only.

itsspring 6y ago

Ya, I found the answer on Apple's site: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208368 > Compared with Apple USB-C Charge Cable The Apple USB-C Charge Cable is longer (2m) and also supports charging, but data-transfer speed is limited to 480Mbps (USB 2.0) and it doesn't support video. The Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cable has Thunderbolt logo on the sleeve of each connector. Either cable can be used with the Apple USB-C Power Adapter.

dogma1138 6y ago

The cable that comes with the Mac chargers is only a USB 2.0 + USB-C power delivery the cable and doesn’t support usb 3.0/3.1 data rates or TB. USB type-C cables that support power delivery can have 2 ground pints, 4 VBUS (power) pins and 1 CC (cable connect/config channel) pin.

kelnos 6y ago

I specifically bought a charge-only USB-C cable so I wouldn't have to worry about plugging my phone into an untrusted port to charge.