2006-07-30 04:02:17 · 6 answers · asked by veer 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Computer Networking
distance. you can have longer fiber runs.
2006-07-30 05:06:53 · answer #1 · answered by Mikal 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It all depends on the usage.
Copper is good for *short* runs inside a building, and much cheaper than fiber. And it works quite well if you actually cable it right (we just completed a conversion of some 500 ports to gigabit in our server room, and it was all-coper there).
Fiber is better in the following cases:
1) You expect to have to go to 10gig or better for a backbone link in the near future, that's getting touchy with copper.
2) You have to run more than 100 meters or so (the impedance of copper will degrade the signal).
3) You have to go between buildings - you really want fiber in the conduit, to prevent conduction effects if there's a nearby lightning strike.
4) With fiber, you can go basically as far as you want - you just need a 'repeater shack' ever 30 to 40 *miles* to regen the signal (how to do this for a cross-ocean cable is quite interesting - the most fun is figuring out how to get power to a repeater that's some 4,000 miles down a cable and under 10 miles of water :)
2006-07-30 18:01:58 · answer #2 · answered by Valdis K 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fiber cable provides a clearer signal. There's a thing called "near end crosstalk" that happens when a signal is impeded by nearby wires. Since copper is a conductor of electricity, any surrounding cables can really screw with the signal you are getting on your line. Fiber optic cable provides an answer to that, because it contains no metal....it's all glass.
2006-07-30 13:12:07 · answer #3 · answered by Big Perm 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because fiber optic cable offers less resistance than copper does. That means the signal travels faster.
2006-07-30 11:10:42 · answer #4 · answered by n0h0pe 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the ability of twisted pair copper to carry high-frequency, wide band signals deteriorates quickly with the segment length. That is, the longer the copper cable is, the lower the throughput. Typically, the maximum segment length for 1000BaseT is 100 metres.
2006-07-30 14:43:57 · answer #5 · answered by Horny MOFO 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
fiber optics cable has a much better transmission quality compared to a copper cable..the interference rate of the fiber optics cable is also much smaller than a copper cable..but the price varies alot..fiber optics cable are too much more expensive than copper cable..
2006-07-30 11:18:40 · answer #6 · answered by ViRuZ 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋