Differentiate between optical fibre cable and ethernet cable. Please help.
Answers
Ethernet is a popular method of networking computers in a local area networks (LANs) using copper cabling.
In the past, Ethernet had a reputation for being slower than fiber optic cable, but that has started to change. Ethernet speed was once limited to 10 megabits per second (Mbps). However, “Fast Ethernet” offers speeds of up to 100Mbps, and “Gigabit Ethernet” can provide speeds of up to 1000Mbps.
Today, optical fiber cables used for Internet are synonymous with speed, and are especially useful when transferring data over long distances.
The cable is made up of strands of incredibly thin optically pure glass that carry digital information with light instead of electrical currents used with Ethernet.
Optical Fibre Cable
Fiber optics is a popular technology that has a larger capacity to transfer data at a very high speed. A Fibre optic cable consists of a central glass core containing a bundle of glass threads surrounded by several layers of protective materials. The glass threads are capable of transmitting data converted into light signals at extremely high speed.
A Fiber optic cable is highly resistant to signal interference and provides better data transmission by providing high bandwidth. Presently, Fibre optic cable is a popular technology for local area networks. But in the future, almost all communication will employ fibre optics. However, it is fragile and the maintenance cost is high.
Whereas,
Ethernet Cables
Ethernet Cables An Ethernet cable is one of the most popular form of network cable used in wired networks This cable resembles a phone cable but is larger than the phone cable and has eight wires Ethernet cables connect various devices such as PCs, routers, and switches within a local area network. The advantage of these cables is that they have less power consumption but the drawback th these cables is that the computer requires an Ethernet adapter card on the motherboard to connect the Ethernet cable. These cables also have their limitations, both in the distance that they can stretch and their durability.
There are mainly two types of Ethernet cable:
Crossover cable : It is basically designed for connecting two computers without a hub or a router.
Straight-through cable : This type of cable has got both its ends identical to each other. It is used to connect a computer to a router or a switch.