Multi-mode fiber allows multiple paths for light to travel so the signal is degraded. To fix this problem, they came up with single mode fiber, which allows one path only, but requires a brighter source to push enough photons into the fiber so it can travel the long distances.
> My question is whether this speed limit on multi-mode fiber exists > because of an insurmountable quality of the medium or as an artifact > of the technology at each end. > Both. > In other words, this fiber can support 1 Gigabit connections, today. > Will it be able someday, due to the progression of technology, to > support 10 Gigabit? Or, like 56Kbps on voice modems, or the Fast > Ethernet on Cat5 cables, is this a more or less a hard limit imposed > by reality? > It's possible they might get there. Engineers are pretty creative people about getting around the perceived limits of reality. > The nice thing, I always heard, about fiber optics is that the > equipment that connects through it can upgrade speeds without needing > to upgrade the cables. It'd be ideal if it were just a matter of time > before 10G became cheap and common enough, and the technology got > developed to the point of being able to run at such speeds over > older/longer fibers. > So one thing you can do is to run a cable with multiple multi-mode fibers. Light one strand on gigabit, then if that link starts getting saturated, light a second and bond the links at the switch.
_______________________________________________ Fwlug mailing list [email protected] http://mail.fortwaynelug.org/mailman/listinfo/fwlug_fortwaynelug.org This is a public list and all posts are archived publicly. Please keep this in mind before posting.
