Fiber cabling comes of age affordably
Fiber optic cable used to be much harder to install than copper cable, requiring precise installation practices.However, in the past few years the cost of an installed fiber-optic link (just the cable and connectors) has dropped and is now often the same as the cost of a UTP link.Better fiber optic connectors and installation techniques have made fiber optic systems easier to set up.In fact, some customers who are experienced with both fiber optic systems and copper systems will tell you that with the newest fiber optic connectors and installation techniques. Fiber optic cable is easier to install than UTP.
Despite the overwhelming advantages, fiber optic cable has two small but significant disadvantages.First, due to the way the light source and photoreceptor arrangement work, light pulses can travel in one direction only. Thus, to support a two-way transmission of data, two fiber optic cables are necessary. For this reason, most fiber optic cable is sold with a least two individual strands of fibres bundled into a single package.
A second disadvantage of fiber optic cable is its higher cost, but this disadvantage is slowly disappearing.For example, it is now possible to purchase bulk, general purpose Duplex Fiber Optic Cable for approximately $.50 per foot, which is close to the price of many types of coaxial cable and shielded twisted pair cable.When you consider its lower error rates and higher data transmission rates, fiber optic cable is indeed its lower error rates and higher data transmission rates, fiber optic cable is indeed a bargain, even compared to inexpensive twisted pair wire.interestingly,it is not so much the fiber optic cable itself that is expensive;the cable's high cost is due to so much the fiber optic cable itself that is expensive;the cable's high cost is due to the hardware that transmits and receives the light pulses at the ends of the fiber cable.However, even this situation is changing.Staring in 1999,the prices for photo diodes and photoreceptors started to drop significantly.Before 1999, it was common to use fiber optic cable only as the backbone-the main connecting cable that runs from one end of the installation to another-of a network,and to use category or 5e twisted pair from the backbone connection up to the workstation.
Fiber To The Home OSP Architecture Issues
The first OSP issue that must be resolved involves fiber density variables, for example, density per home, per street, and per cable.Splitter location is another issue: should the splitter be distributed or consolidated? Passive hardware devices involve numerous issues, including network interface devices, closures, access terminations, cable type, buffer tube sizes, Ftth Drop Cable , and connector types.The impact of all these issues on incremental upgrades must be seriously considered.Some cost issues that must be addressed include bolume-related cost reductions, OSP passive hardware (both FTTH-optimized and new product lines, such as NIDs), enclosures and splice cases, and legacy interface gateways.
