What is Fibre Optic Cable?​

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The Modern world is built upon a strong foundation of telecommunications. Almost everything we do, at some point, owes part of its journey to telecommunications. Behind the scenes, the backbone of modern telecommunications is provided by fibre optic cable. But what exactly is fibre optic and how can it help us?

 

What is so special about fibre optic cables?

 

A fibre optic cable is, of course, a type of cable. But it's a very special cable. Rather than containing typical copper wires, a fibre optic cable consists of thin strands of glass fibre within an insulated covering, data is transmitted as light signals down its cores.

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The Types of Fibre Optic Cable

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Fibre optic cable can be separated into two distinct categories. Both types offer a range of benefits which make them suitable for specific uses. The two categories are single mode and multimode.

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Single Mode

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This category of fibre optic cable is capable of transmitting light signals up to 100km away. This is achieved by using a single light path. Generally, ths formof fibre optic will be found in services such as local area networks, cable TV and ISP telecommunications.

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Multimode

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Where a single mode fibre optic uses just one light path, a multimode fibre optic employes multiple light paths. The main benefit of this design is that connections are much simpler. It is also more cost effective due to the multiple streams of data which can travel down the connection. The range of multi-mode fibre, however , is much reduced due to the light dispersion which take place. Accordingly, multi-mode fibre optic has a range of arounf 1km and is best suited to smaller, local networks.