Why Fibre Optic Cabling Is the Perfect Replacement for Traditional Copper Cabling

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Carrie's Construction Tips

Welcome to my blog. I'm Carrie and I would like to share some of the top tips I have learnt about construction and repair work in the home. My passion is for buying old property and carrying out work on them to bring them into the 21st century. I started out doing this a couple of years ago. I used some money I had inherited to buy a wreck of a place and if I am honest, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I was really lucky to find some great contractors who helped me out a lot and taught me lots of very cool things.

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Why Fibre Optic Cabling Is the Perfect Replacement for Traditional Copper Cabling

16 October 2017
 Categories: Construction & Contractors, Blog


Fibre optic cables are a modern alternative to the copper cabling that was traditionally used to connect homes, offices and businesses to the telecommunications network. Unlike copper cabling, which consist of thick copper wires, fibre optic cables comprise several strands of ultra-thin optical fibres, through which communication signals in the form of light pulses can be transmitted over long distances. The current trend in Australia and many other developed countries across the world has been to phase out wired cabling by taking the fibre optic cabling route. 

Want to know why fibre optic cabling is considered to be a superior choice over traditional copper cabling when it comes to installation of data networks and telecommunication systems? Continue reading on to find why. 

Higher bandwidth

The term "bandwidth" is commonly used in discussions relating to data transmission and the efficiency of telecommunication networks. Unfortunately, not many laymen know what it actually means. Simply explained, bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transmitted over a certain medium within a specified period. The higher the bandwidth, the greater the amount of information that can be transmitted and vice versa. 

Fibre optic cables offer higher bandwidth than comparable copper cabling, and can transmit data and carry communication signals over longer distances. This makes them the perfect option for people and businesses with bandwidth-intensive applications, such as downloading music files and watching online videos. When greater bandwidth is required, the capacity of the already-installed fibre optic cabling infrastructure can be upgraded by simply integrating new equipment into the inert fibre cable. This eliminates the need to completely remove existing cabling just so that new cabling can be installed to match the demand for higher bandwidth.

No worrying about EMI

Electromagnetic interference, abbreviated as EMI, typically comes about when wired data cabling runs parallel with electrical cables. The data cables end up drawing electrical current flowing in the electrical wires cables, as metal wires are good conductors of electricity. The conventional way of minimising EMI problems with wired cabling has been to separate data cables and electrical cables and to ensure there is enough distance between both types of cabling.

As fibre optics are non-conductors of electricity, they can't draw electrical current from power cables during data transmission. With fibre optic cabling, therefore, EMI is a thing of the past. To put the icing on the cake, the noise heard when stray electricity reaches copper wire cabling won't be generated.

These are just but a few of the many perks that fibre optic cabling has to offer. Talk to a data cabling specialist if you want more information about this kind of communication technology.