Fiber optic routers use glass strands to transmit data at faster speeds than metal cable routers. They are more expensive and complex, but have less interference and can carry more data. Installation is difficult and there may be limitations due to network connections.
A fiber optic router is a router that uses fiber optic cable to carry a data signal. It’s much faster than any other type of router, but it’s more expensive. These routers are most often used in larger offices or institutions, as well as on the Internet.
Routers carry computer network activity to other computers. It can divide traffic into networks and send it where it needs to go, just like the post office can separate mail and deliver it to specific addresses. Routers are used to drive computer traffic in networks large and small. Most home and small network routers are category 5 (cat-5) or category 6 (cat-6) cable routers, moving data at speeds of up to 1000 megabits per second. Fiber optic routers can handle speeds of up to 10,000 megabits per second.
Unlike cat-5 and cat-6 cables, which are made of metal and plastic, fiber optic cable is a bundle of glass strands, each of which can transmit data over the cable from a laser transmitter that transforms frequency in pulses of light. The light is then transformed back into data that the computer can read from the receiving end. Fiber-optic cable has much more bandwidth than cat-5 or cat-6 cable, so it can carry more data, just like an eight-lane highway can move more cars than a two-lane highway. Fiber-optic cables also have less susceptibility to interference than metal cables and can carry the signal longer without a surge.
A fiber optic router has to move the data supplied by a fiber optic cable, so it’s more complex than one that can only use cat-5 or cat-6, and as a result, they’re also more expensive. Many times a router will have both options available. For example, your router may have several ports for cat-5 or cat-6 cables, but it will also have a slot for a fiber-optic cable.
Besides the cost, the main disadvantage of fiber optic routers is the expense and difficulty of installation. Fiber-optic cables can also break more easily than metal wires and don’t splice easily. Even though speeds can reach up to 10,000 megabits per second with a fiber optic router, there are still limits. Many networks are connected to other networks that do not support high speed, effectively eliminating many of the benefits of installing fiber optics.
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