Technology

Your Questions Answered: What Are Fiber Optics Exactly?

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">What’s faster than light&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bigthink&period;com&sol;dr-kakus-universe&sol;what-travels-faster-than-the-speed-of-light" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Apparently&comma; nothing<&sol;a> unless you can somehow warp space and time or go back in time to the Big Bang&period; So&comma; if you’re looking for fast internet&comma; wouldn’t it be sweet if you could somehow harness the speed of light&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It’s now possible thanks to fiber optics&period; So what are fiber optics or fiber internet&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In simple terms&comma; fiber optics uses cables made of thin glass or clear plastic fibers to transfer data as light signals&period; Using light to carry digital information gives it an unparalleled speed advantage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Learn more about fiber optics by reading the rest of the article&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What Are Fiber Optics&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Digital information &lpar;the ones and zeros&rpar; needs a medium to travel from one place to another&period; For cellular networks such as 4G LTE or 5G&comma; radio waves carry the signals&period; In DSL&comma; data travels through copper telephone wires while cable internet uses coaxial cables&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">For <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;glofiber&period;com&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">fibernet internet<&sol;a>&comma; the data is in the form of light particles that travel through fiber-optic cables&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A fiber-optic cable is made up of optical fibers arranged in bundles&period; The fibers are long&comma; thin strands of glass or plastic that are just one-tenth of the diameter of human hair&period; A single optical fiber has three parts&colon; the core&comma; cladding&comma; and buffer coating&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The core is the glass fiber itself and it’s surrounded by the cladding&comma; which is another glass layer that reflects the light back into the core&period; The buffer coat protects each individual strand from damage and moisture&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How Do Fiber Optics Work&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The beam of light ferries the data through a fiber-optic cable by bouncing repeatedly off the walls&period; It’s similar to how a bobsleigh manages the twists and turns of the track until it reaches the finish line&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This process is known as <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;microscopemaster&period;com&sol;total-internal-reflection&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">total internal reflection<&sol;a>&period; It’s the same tech as endoscopes but instead of images&comma; it transmits digital data&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">However&comma; let’s make it clear&period; The light signals do not travel at the speed of light&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The beam loses speed while bouncing around and through the glass layers&period; Instead&comma; it travels thirty percent slower than the speed of light&period; Seventy percent of 186&comma;000 miles per second is still pretty darn fast&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Let’s see why fiber-optic technology is the crème de la crème of internet networks&period; By transmitting data through fiber-optic cables instead of traditional copper wires&comma; you can have&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&NewLine;<li>Faster speed&period; Fiber internet can reach speeds higher than 1000 Mbps while DSL maxes out at 35 Mbps&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Higher bandwidth&period; Diameter for diameter&comma; fiber cables can carry much larger data since the optical fibers are thinner than copper wires<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Less signal degradation&period; Light can travel ten times further before it needs a signal boost&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>No interference&period; Unlike electrical signals in copper wires&comma; there’s no interaction of light signals carried by different fibers in the same cable&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">However&comma; it’s not all bells and whistles for fiber optics as it stands right now&period; Availability is limited to select areas&comma; mostly cities&period; Also&comma; the initial costs are prohibitive for most average income families&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Should You Make the Switch&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Hopefully&comma; we’ve answered the question&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;what are fiber optics&quest;” and provided the information to guide your decision&period; When it comes to speed and signal quality&comma; fiber internet currently sits at the top&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">For more tech news&comma; please feel free to browse through our website&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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