Structured wiring: fiber optic or not? [Design]

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From: Mark F on 3 Aug 2010 13:19

On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 20:03:51 -0700, Bob E. <bespoke(a)invalid.tv> wrote:

> A friend is having a new roof put on his his 50-year-old, flat-roof home.
> This provides access to all kinds of new wiring possibilities for the
> structure.
>
> He wants to do 2xCAT6 and 2xRG-6 throughout. I'm not sure what to recommend
Yes - always do 2 (or more) of each so you can do loopback tests.

Put in some lines in the attic and to the roof for satellite, antenna
on the roof, and antenna in the attic.

Cat 6E might be for real now, so try for it instead of Cat 6.
The cables I put in in 2004 say "CAT6E", but it certainly wasn't
an official specification then.

See if you can find out what the cable company runs to your house.
It would either be better than RG-6 or better than RG-6 that you
choose at random. Also, get the kind that has a separate wire for DC.

\
> re. fiber optic.
>
> Is it too soon to know how this will be an advantage to existing homes?
>
> I hear there are several FO standards (62.5 micron, 50 micron). Is there
Single mode. The stuff I put in 2004 works with the 1Gb/s
interfaces that I got 6 years ago that were made for the larger
diameter multimode stuff [wouldn't work over kilometers, does work
over 100 meters] Single mode interfaces are still till expensive, but
coming down in price. Multi-mode won't handle much over 1Gb/s; single
mode should hit more than 1Tb/s over 100 meters in a while.

There probably is a specific type of connector that you should use for
the fiber-optics, but I never figured out what it was.

> strong competition, or is one the clear favorite into the future?
>
> What should I recommend?
>
> Thanks.

From: John Larkin on 3 Aug 2010 14:10

On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 21:18:10 -0700, Bob E. <bespoke(a)invalid.tv> wrote:

>> How about some big conduit and some fish lines, so anything can be
>> added later?
>>
>> John
>
>Hadn't thought of that. It's a great idea.
>
>Thanks!

When we did our building, we put runs of rectangular plastic downspout
pipe into the walls and floors.

John

From: Josepi on 3 Aug 2010 14:17

Fibre needs it's own conduit. It is still fragile, limited bend radius and
subject to shock. Secondly, it will be corning glass so thin that it bends.
Plastic fibres have too much opacity, went out with hooped skirts and is
limited to toys and lamps now.

If you damage it you may not realize it until you wonder why the bandwidth
is so bad. Stick with copper inside a buiding as James stated.. The fibre
optic providers do. Glass fibre has never been faster than the copper
circuits that feed it.

"James Sweet" <jamesrsweet(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:i38b9f$jtg$3(a)news.eternal-september.org...
Second that. Fiber has been around for decades and never really caught
on for internal communications. It's great for moving lots of data over
really long distance, but within a building there is just not much
advantage over copper and a lot of disadvantages.

Bob E. wrote:
>> How about some big conduit and some fish lines, so anything can be
>> added later?
>>
>> John
>
> Hadn't thought of that. It's a great idea.
>
> Thanks!
>

From: PeterD on 3 Aug 2010 15:11

From: John Larkin on 3 Aug 2010 16:45

On Tue, 3 Aug 2010 14:17:27 -0400, "Josepi" <JRM.(a)easynews.com> wrote:

>Fibre needs it's own conduit. It is still fragile, limited bend radius and
>subject to shock. Secondly, it will be corning glass so thin that it bends.
>Plastic fibres have too much opacity, went out with hooped skirts and is
>limited to toys and lamps now.

Jacketed fiber is tough. One trick is to blow it into existing
underground gas pipes, with a little parachute/umbrella sort of thing.
A quarter inch bend radius has no effect on the stuff we use.

But shock?

John

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