In the previous section, we covered fiber internet connections, now let’s take a look at the actual fiber cable.
- Uses light instead of electricity so immune to radio or electrical interference problems. However, fiber communication is difficult to monitor or tap.
- A fiber cable is made up of coating on the outside. The next layer inside is cladding. The next layer is optic fiber core in the middle of the cable.
- Travels far 2000 meters
- Requires fiber optic switch and fiber optic network cards
- Mulitmode vs Single Mode:
- Most fiber networks user 62.5/125 mulitmode fiber optic cable
- Multimode uses LEDs to transmit multiple light signals at the same time, used for short distances (up to 600 meters), slower than single mode
- Single mode uses laser light for high transfer rates over long distances (over 80 km). Lasers are more expensive.
- Uses ST, SC, and LC connectors
- ST stands for Straight Tip. Often used in fiber optic network implementation.
- LC (Lucent) connectors are newer and designed to support 2 fiber cables in one connector. More often used in audio setups.
- Half duplex (data only flows one way) so need two 2 cables in every fiber installation
