Copper vs Fiber
NT1310
Unit 4
Copper vs Fiber
Copper cabling comes in many forms such as coaxial (Unshielded Twisted Pair), and STP (Shielded Twisted Pair). Coaxial has been in use for the longest period of time and one of the first types used in networking. CAT5e is the most common used today in networking with the bandwidth it supports and is available in UTP or STP. CAT6 can support any application that “lower” cables can and also has a higher bandwidth and is available in UTP and STP as well. UTP is unshielded twisted pair, which means that the cables twisted together do not have any extra protection again EMI (Electromagnetic Interference). STP shielded twisted pair, which means that the cables twisted together have and extra metallic foil or multi-wire screen mesh that is used to reduce EMI.
Fiber optic cable have many more advantages than copper cabling. It is much more secure and has complete immunity to electromagnetic interference. With this type of cabling there are higher rates of data transfer which is always a good thing. There is not much to worry about when it comes to attenuation because it uses light to transfer data, and go much further in distance limitations versus copper cable. Though attenuation is never much to worry about with fiber some things that would cause problems are excessive bending of the cable, impurities in the fiber, dirty fiber end-faces, and excessive stretching of the cable. Single-mode and multi-mode are two types of fiber cable that is available. but still longer than copper cabling distant limitations. A multi-mode fiber introduces multimode distortion, which often limits the bandwidth and length of the link.
Unit 4
Copper vs Fiber
Copper cabling comes in many forms such as coaxial (Unshielded Twisted Pair), and STP (Shielded Twisted Pair). Coaxial has been in use for the longest period of time and one of the first types used in networking. CAT5e is the most common used today in networking with the bandwidth it supports and is available in UTP or STP. CAT6 can support any application that “lower” cables can and also has a higher bandwidth and is available in UTP and STP as well. UTP is unshielded twisted pair, which means that the cables twisted together do not have any extra protection again EMI (Electromagnetic Interference). STP shielded twisted pair, which means that the cables twisted together have and extra metallic foil or multi-wire screen mesh that is used to reduce EMI.
Fiber optic cable have many more advantages than copper cabling. It is much more secure and has complete immunity to electromagnetic interference. With this type of cabling there are higher rates of data transfer which is always a good thing. There is not much to worry about when it comes to attenuation because it uses light to transfer data, and go much further in distance limitations versus copper cable. Though attenuation is never much to worry about with fiber some things that would cause problems are excessive bending of the cable, impurities in the fiber, dirty fiber end-faces, and excessive stretching of the cable. Single-mode and multi-mode are two types of fiber cable that is available. but still longer than copper cabling distant limitations. A multi-mode fiber introduces multimode distortion, which often limits the bandwidth and length of the link.