Fiber Optic Safety and Capacity | V1 Fiber

Fiber Optic Internet: A Faster and More Secure Solution

While evaluating data transmission technologies, one point becomes clear: Fiber optic internet is here to stay. While it’s enjoying wide availability and popularity, the technology is decades in the making. Stable infrastructure, advanced encoding methods, and transmission speeds are just a few advantages offered by fiber optic internet. In this guide, you’ll learn about fiber optic safety, bandwidth capacity, and what makes this method a preferred data transmission technology.

Fiber Optic Communication Technology Basics

Fiber optic technologies enjoyed significant development during the 1970s and 1980s. Fiber telecommunication networks slowly replaced copper, satellite, and microwave connections over the following decades. Fiber optics were integrated into data communications during the 1990s, paving the way for today’s fiber optic internet.

Fiber optic internet does not use traditional copper wiring or satellites. This technology uses cables containing optical fibers inside an insulated casing. Information travels as light signals through these thin fiber optic strands. Each strand is only around 10% of the size of human hair.

Each optical fiber is a thin strand made from transparent substances such as glass or plastic. This strand is known as the core, which sits inside reflective cladding, preventing light from leaking from the cable. The outer coating usually contains silicone or plastic polymers to protect the inner layers from the elements. A fiber optic cable can encompass hundreds of tiny strands.

How Fiber Optic Internet Works

Transmitting data through fiber optics is a deceptively simple process. Before data can travel anywhere, it must undergo an encoding method known as pulse amplitude modulation. PAM translates binary code into amplitude levels: Many fiber optic communication networks use PAM-4, which transmits with four unique signal levels. These fast-traveling light pulses move through fiber optic lines to their destinations, where photodetectors convert them back into data.

Fiber Optic Internet Benefits

Fiber optic safety, reliability, speed, and capacity are all essential benefits. Fiber internet’s inherent design features are directly responsible for these advantages.

Speed and Bandwidth Capacity

Light travels at around 186,282 miles per second in a vacuum. Fiber optic signals move up to 31% slower than light speed because of fiber lines’ refractive index. Despite the slowdown, that yields a top signal transmission speed of 128,535 miles per second.

Fiber optic service packages vary. Home users typically get up to 1 Gbps, with up to 6 Gbps possible in some cities. Businesses can enjoy speeds of up to 100 Gbps. Some providers offer symmetrical services with equal upload and download speeds. All these options allow users to transmit more data faster than copper or satellite. Moreover, fiber transmits data over much longer distances without signal attenuation.

Fiber Optic Vs. Copper

When comparing fiber optic and copper cabling, fiber is the clear winner. Copper cabling transmits data as electromagnetic signals. Encoding transforms binary data into voltage or current pulses, which a receiver at the destination must decode. Electromagnetic signals travel through copper at 1,863 miles per second, only 1.5% of fiber’s top transmission speeds.

Fiber optic cable strands are dielectric: No current flows through them because they’re poor conductors of electricity. As a result, there’s a much lower risk of signal loss and interference. Copper wires, however, do conduct electricity. That conductivity helps transmit data: Direct current transforms into information signals via PAM or pulse code modulation.

Fiber optic safety and security are also significantly better than copper.
Detecting and tapping into fiber optic light pulses is more challenging. With optical encryption and stenography technologies, stealing data from fiber optic transmissions is nearly impossible. However, information thieves can tap copper cables and steal data, bandwidth, or both.

Fiber Optic Vs. Satellite

Fiber optic internet is also faster, more reliable, and more secure than satellite internet. Satellite offers a maximum download speed of 300 Mbps, much less than fiber’s typical capacity of 1,000 Mbps. Satellite signals are even simpler to tap than electromagnetic data signals in copper lines, exposing users to even more vulnerabilities.

Our Fiber Optic Communication Solutions

Fiber optic safety, reliability, and speed make fiber internet superior to copper cable and satellite. Let V1 Fiber help deliver these benefits with a complete menu of fiber optic engineering, construction, repair, and maintenance services. Request a quote or call us at (844) 813-4237. We look forward to discussing how we can put our excellence and expertise to work for your business.

https://www.thefoa.org/tech/ref/basic/basics.html

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/fiber-optics-and-types/

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/technical-articles/a-primer-on-digital-pulse-amplitude-modulation/

https://www.space.com/15830-light-speed.html

https://blog.telegeography.com/the-speed-of-light-never-changes-except-when-it-does

https://www.britannica.com/science/dielectric