Nt1310 Unit 4 Assignment 1 Copper vs. Fiber Paper

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Copper cabling is the cheaper of the two wiring solutions. Copper cabling uses a copper wire to transmit data via electrical signals between connections. Copper cabling comes in a few different types of cable. Unshielded-twisted pair is most commonly used for horizontal cables. These cables are cheap and the network interface cards are cheap as well compared to Fiber NIC cards. In that sense UTP cables are most preferred for patch panels and computer connections to the network. They are also the easiest to work with. Shielded-twisted pair is another type of copper cabling. This is used when you need to run cable through an area that has a lot of Electromagnetic Interference. This type of cable is more expensive than UTP cable. The last type of copper cable is Coaxial Cable. Coax is used mostly for HDTV, Satellite, and cable modems. Fiber Optic cabling is the other type of cabling solution we talked about. Fiber optics uses a glass or plastic core to transmit light between each connection. Because we are using light instead of an electrical current, fiber is immune electromagnetic to interference. Fiber is also able to send data at faster speeds and longer distances than copper cabling. Fiber is harder to work with and usually needs a specialized technician to install the connections. Fiber is commonly used as the backbones of telecommunications network connections and is used for Ocean Networks. Fiber optics use one of two different light sources (either LED or Laser) depending on the type of fiber cable being used. The two types of fiber cables are Single-Mode Fiber and Multi-Mode Fiber. Single-Mode Fiber uses a very narrow glass core and can transmit data at very high speeds or long distances. Multi-Mode Fiber uses a thicker glass core than single-mode fiber. As I have discussed each cabling solution has its own advantages and disadvantages. Copper cabling is best

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