UNIT 4 Assignment 1 Essay

Submitted By bearhand5555
Words: 370
Pages: 2

Copper vs. Fiber Copper and fiber wiring are the main mediums in which data is transferred across networks. Choosing between copper and fiber for the type of wiring is a large concern in the networking community. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each type helps to figure out which to use. There are many key factors to think of when making a choice such as, bandwidth, distance, and cost. As the name suggests, fiber optic technology uses pulses of light to carry data along strands of glass or plastic, which promises to deliver speeds of at least 100Mbps. When we're talking about 'speed' were actually talking about throughput (or capacity), the amount of data you can transfer per unit time. And fiber optics can definitely transfer more data at higher throughput over longer distances than copper wire. For example, a local area network using modern copper lines can carry 3000 telephone calls all at once, while a similar system using fiber optics can carry over 31,000. The key difference between the both is that fiber optic cables have much higher bandwidths than copper cables. Optical fiber can carry much higher frequency ranges, note that light is a very high frequency signal, while copper wire attenuates or loses signal strength at higher frequencies. Also, fiber optic technology is far less susceptible to noise and electromagnetic interference than electricity along a copper wire. You can send the signal for over 200 kilometers without any real