So, what is faster?

[Blurred]

You have a 5,000 mile long fiber optic line, and a 5,000 mile long copper cable.

Which one has faster data transmission?

Discuss.

[TomK]

With or without repeaters/regens? (Tricky Q)

Generally, an all optical transimssion will take longer than an electrical one.
But, bits per second on Optical is very very very high compared to copper.

Speed of light in fiber optic glass (IOR = 1.465) roughly 127,000 vs 186,000 miles per second in a vacum.

Speed of electric current in copper depends on the wiresize. The speed of Speed of electric voltage potential is pretty darn close to 186,000 speed of light.

[Blurred]

With or without repeaters/regens?

This isn't a trick question, so let's leave "repeaters/regens" out of the equation.
They would add too many inconsistent variables. Let's image both lines have no attenuation.

[f2f]

copper will be heavier, that's for sure

[pechelman]

well if there is no attenuation at all, then isnt it equivalent to asking whether light or an electron can move faster in a vaccuum?

anyway
lights velocity = c
electron drift velocity in copper ~ .6c

there something im missing?

[MOHSHSIHd]

Im gonna go with fiber-optics. Light travels faster, and goes a much furthur distance through fiber optic cable w/o needing to have the signal boosted.

Copper is great shorter distances, but 5k miles is gonna really bring alot of resistance into the mix

[TomK]

Sorry, I was editing while you were answering See edited reply for the answer.

Short A - Glass is slower than copper on a bit by bit end to end basis.
This is why we in telecom struggle with echo control issues when changing circuits from a microwave or copper path to a glass one.

Glass offers MUCH higher bits per second though.

So, it depends on what you mean by "faster data transmission".
Copper is faster bit by bit, but glass is capable of many more bits per second.

[Beaver]

Ton said what I was going to say

1 bit - Copper wins
bazillion bits - glass wins

[TeleHoar]

I will say the fiber optic because some scum bag came along and stole the copper right out of the ground for salvage.

[doublediamond223]

The problem with fiber, as I understand it, is that the switches converting light back into bits are the bottleneck in the system. Once the switches are improved, the benefits of fiber will become larger. I'm no engineer though.

[Kyle]

I will say the fiber optic because some scum bag came along and stole the copper right out of the ground for salvage.

Probably but although the switches aren't great, FibreOpitic will make up for that time by the time it takes getting from start to finish.

I conclude....FibreOpitic

[warthog]

Right now, or 5 years from now?

Right now- Copper. Fiber is terminated with copper at the end, in most situations, except really high end.

5 years from now-

Depends on how strong the Copper lobbyists are, and what the next big thing will be. Cat7 or above by then?


Note- I am only basing this on in-home use, so most of this is wrong for high end data centers and the like. Everyday use for the residential fiber is still copper throughout the house.

[Blurred]

Sorry, I was editing while you were answering See edited reply for the answer.

Short A - Glass is slower than copper on a bit by bit end to end basis.
This is why we in telecom struggle with echo control issues when changing circuits from a microwave or copper path to a glass one.

Glass offers MUCH higher bits per second though.

So, it depends on what you mean by "faster data transmission".
Copper is faster bit by bit, but glass is capable of many more bits per second.

Ding ding ding!

Good answer. Fiber can carry much more info, but is slower than copper.
The reason is the light has to travel further. Why?
Because you can't send light directly into the fiber, or else it reflects just like when you shine a flashlight directly into a car window at night...it reflects right back at you...so the light has to be lasered into the fiber at an angle. The light bounces off the sides of the fiber the entire way, so it covers a much longer area than a signal on copper.

I learned that today and thought I would share.

[El Chupacabra]

The airplane will take off. I think.

... oh wait, wrong thread?

[TomK]

Ding ding ding!

Good answer. Fiber can carry much more info, but is slower than copper.
The reason is the light has to travel further. Why?
Because you can't send light directly into the fiber, or else it reflects just like when you shine a flashlight directly into a car window at night...it reflects right back at you...so the light has to be lasered into the fiber at an angle. The light bounces off the sides of the fiber the entire way, so it covers a much longer area than a signal on copper.

I learned that today and thought I would share.

Close but not complete.
Internal fiber reflection does add to the total distance the light travels, but the speed of light thru glass is significantly lower than the speed of potential thru a conductor and that's the biggest reason that it's slower on a bit by bit basis.

The reflections that happen when light passes from material with one IOR to another is called Fresnel Reflection. As long as light is angled at more than the critical angle (Crit angle depends on the difference between the IORs), most of it will make it thru the boundry and only a small amount is reflected. If the angle is less than that critical angle, 100% of the light gets reflected off. Think of looking west at water. As long as the sun's rays hit the water at a steep angle you can see down into it, but when the sun gets low on the horizon and the angle is lesss, it gets reflected and causes glare.

Fiber glass is made up of two flavors with slightly different IORs and the signal light angles hit this boundry at less than the critical angle, so thats what causes the 100% internal reflection. IF you bend fiber into a small enough circle (think of wrapping it around a pencil) the light hits the boundry layer at a steeper than critical angle and starts to "leak" out of the core and gets lost. This is called a macrobend impairment.

Fiber connectors put the light as close to 0 degrees offset (90 degrees to the plane of connection) to maximize the light transfer.

Fiber connections do cause a small amount of reflection and this can be seen with a piece of test equipment called an Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR). It's used to locate the splices and connections in a fiber route as well as to finding how far away a break is (Breaks cause huge reflections). Splicing tech has gotten so good over the last 10 years that they are often invisible and lossless now, but connectors are still easy to see.

[Obstruction]

I had FIOS (Verizon Fiber Optic) installed at the Obstruction manse yesterday and that sumbitch is as fast as stink.

[bklyn]

tech talk, jong!

[hutash]

tech talk, jong!

/\/\/\Best answer yet

[The Suit]

Probably but although the switches aren't great, FibreOpitic will make up for that time by the time it takes getting from start to finish.

I conclude....FibreOpitic

The switches aren't great? Are you kidding me? Have you ever tried to make one of those things?

[13]

is this one of those "popcorn" threads? let's be real, it's not even summer yet.

[Crass3000]

The optical by far. You can put at least 64 wavelengths of light on it at once time each carrying a data tranfer rate of OC192 (10GBps). Think 10GBps*64 wavelengths and you have an obvious winner

You need to use DWDM technology but you can transmit WAY more information on fiber than copper.

[GI JONG]

is this one of those "popcorn" threads? let's be real, it's not even summer yet.

Hey cock-muzzle. This is the padded room.

[GI JONG]

The optical by far. You can put at least 64 wavelengths of light on it at once time each carrying a data tranfer rate of OC192 (10GBps). Think 10GBps*64 wavelengths and you have an obvious winner

Dude, it's already official. You're retarded. The group has already agreed that the plane will fly.

[Crass3000]

Dude, it's already official. You're retarded. The group has already agreed that the plane will fly.

I think this is first time I feel the need to pull out the douchnozzle word and direct it at anybody. Somebody had to be first. Don't feel bad.

[13]

Hey cock-muzzle. This is the padded room.

pipe down and go get my beer, bitch.