Optical fiber question

Thu Dec 10 18:28:59 UTC 2009

On Dec 10, 2009, at 1:24 PM, Deric Kwok wrote:

> Hi
> 
> My provider said they can provide single / mulit mode Optical fiber
> 
> Apart from the length and cost different, what is the Adv/Disadv
> between them for our connection?

The advantages are always in the distance capabilities of the single mode fiber.  You can reach much further on this, but the optics tend to be more expensive.  If you are going a short distance (eg: 2km or less) multi-mode is the way.  If you're going to go any further, or want to ever go any further, take the extra cost and know you can swap optics in the future to do gig, 10G and possibly more (in the future) with less pain.

- Jared