Difference Between Optical Fiber And Symmetrical Fiber?

Optical fiber and symmetrical fiber are different. But do you know what the characteristics of each one are? If you have doubts about which fiber is better, in this post we will tell you everything. In the blog we will give you answers to all the questions you were asking yourself about fiber optics and symmetrical fiber .

In these times where fiber has become essential in our homes and jobs, it is very important to know one and the other. So you can choose which fiber to contract !

1. What Is Fiber Optics?

Almost all of us are familiar with this term and have a basic idea of ​​what fiber optics is for Internet connection. We know that it has been a revolution in telecommunications thanks to the speed it provides, but do you know exactly how it works?

In recent years, an alternative means to the transmission means traditionally used for signal communication has been developed: copper cables, coaxial cables, wave guides, etc. The idea of ​​taking advantage of the full capacity of light as a means of transmission has been possible thanks to the manufacture of thin glass threads called Optical Fibers, through which pulses of light are sent that represent the data to be transmitted .

Fiber is widely used in telecommunications, since it allows a large amount of data to be sent over long distances , with speeds higher than those of a conventional cable. Being immune to electromagnetic interference, it is the most advanced cable transmission medium today.

When we talk about “fiber optic Internet” we mean that multiple data channels are used to send information across networks. In short, it is a high-speed Internet option offered by Internet service providers.

2. Advantages And Disadvantages Of Fiber Optics

As you may already be imagining, fiber optics has important advantages :

• Being faster , it offers us a faster Internet connection.
• Minimize interference . The transmitted optical signal is not affected by the electromagnetic field, so you will not have a drop in speed, connection cuts and any other type of problem of this type.
• It is easier to install as it takes up little space and is very flexible. In addition, it weighs 8 times less than a conventional cable.
• It has better bandwidth , which means that the amount of information that can be sent in the same unit of time is greater.
• Better network security . In fiber optics, intrusion is detected much more easily, so it is more complicated to steal or intervene in data transmissions.

As you can see, the advantages of fiber optics are important, but that does not mean that it does not also have some disadvantages .

To better understand them, it is necessary to explain that what we have described so far is the so-called asymmetric optical fiber. It receives this name because the data upload speed and the download speed are not the same, hence its “asymmetry”. In other words, the speed with which you download documents, movies, music,. is different from the speed at which you can upload them.

The data upload speed in this type of fiber is usually lower . For example, if you had a 100Mb fiber connection, your upload speed could be around 10Mb. This means some difficulties in video calls or an excess of time to upload large files to the cloud. Although it is still faster than ADSL.

3. What Is Symmetric Fiber?

Symmetrical fiber is nothing more than a type of optical fiber that offers us the possibility of having the same upload and download speed in the internet connection.

Until now, download speed was given more importance because the need for speed prevailed when downloading a page or a movie, for example. That is why asymmetric fiber optics was a great solution, since the download speed was paramount, even being ten times higher than the upload speed. But times change and with them our needs.

Now there is a greater demand for uploading data to the cloud or to social networks: photos, videos, music,. That is why the different operators, being aware of this change, are beginning to implement symmetric fiber optics. In this way we can play online or upload files to the cloud at high speed , according to what we have contracted.

4. Advantages And Disadvantages Of Symmetric Fiber

Let’s start with the advantages of symmetric fiber:

• Better quality in videoconferences : The better the upload speed, the better sound and video quality, even if there are other users connected playing streaming videos.
• And since we mentioned it, yes, streaming on Youtube or Twitch also improves with the use of symmetrical fiber.
• Better connection in online games : Taking into account that playing online involves downloading and uploading a large volume of data, the characteristics of symmetrical fiber come in handy to improve response time.
• Greater speed when uploading large files to cloud platforms such as Dropbox or Google Drive, or sharing them through WeTransfer or 4Shared.
• Another advantage of symmetrical fiber is that it evenly distributes bandwidth among all devices , so they can work efficiently even when connected simultaneously.

But of course, not everything can be so positive. The main disadvantages of symmetric fiber are its price (higher than that of asymmetric fiber optics) and the fact that it is not available throughout the national territory . Symmetrical fiber can only reach places where traditional high-speed cables are already installed.

5. Which one should I choose?

Choosing one type of fiber or another will depend mainly on the use you make of the internet . If you are going to use the internet only to check your email or download movies, for example, you will have more than enough with conventional or asymmetric fiber optics.

On the other hand, if you upload a large amount of material to social networks, continually use platforms such as Google Drive or Dropbox or hold video conferences with Skype or Facetime, it will be more convenient for you to contract symmetrical fiber. Symmetrical fiber will also come in handy for streaming on Twitch.

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