What Is the Difference Between Fiber and Copper Cable?

Optical fiber and copper wire are two common data center transmission media, both of which have anti-interference and good confidentiality. The differences between the two are mainly reflected in the following four aspects: 

1.Transmission distance

Generally speaking, the transmission distance of copper wire is less than 100m, while the maximum transmission distance of optical fiber can reach 100km (single-mode optical fiber), which is far more than that of copper wire.

2.Transmission rate

At present, the maximum transmission rate of copper wire can reach 40Gbps (such as cat 8 network cable, DAC passive copper cable), while the maximum transmission rate of optical fiber can reach 100gbps (such as OM4 optical fiber jumper), far higher than that of copper wire.

3.Maintenance management

The operation of making crystal heads of copper wire and port connections of equipment is very simple, while the operation of cutting and welding of optical fiber and equipment connection is more demanding and complicated.

4.Price cost

In the case of the same length of optical fiber and copper wire, the price of optical fiber is generally 5-6 times that of copper wire, and the price of optical fiber plug-in equipment (such as optical fiber coupler) is also much higher than that of copper wire. Therefore, in terms of price cost, the price cost of optical fiber is much higher than that of copper wire.

What are the advantages of copper cable? 

1.Low resistivity of copper core cable: the resistivity of aluminum core cable is about 1.68 times higher than that of copper core cable. 

2.The copper core cable has good ductility.

3.The high strength of copper core cable: the allowable stress under normal temperature can reach 20 for copper and 15.6kgt/mm2 for aluminum. 

4.Anti-fatigue of copper core cable: aluminum is easy to break after repeated bending, while copper is not easy to break. 

5.Copper core cable has good stability and corrosion resistance: the copper core is resistant to oxidation and corrosion, while the aluminum core is vulnerable to oxidation and corrosion.

Product manager : Tony

Email:  tony@zion-communication.com