What is "cheap" for optical cable?
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Posted by Al Dykes on January 22, 2008, 12:22 pm
Please log in for more thread options Can someone recommend the specification designation for the cheapest type of fibre cable for short runs (100s of ft.) and point to a specific transceiver that will convert the signal to UTP. Is ebay a place to get odd lengths of cable? Is there a practical DIY kit for termination or do we have to get pre-terminated lengths. What are the distance and speed limits for Ethernets connected via inexpensive fibre? -- Al Dykes News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising. - Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail | ||||||||||||||||
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Posted by DLR on January 22, 2008, 5:49 pm
Please log in for more thread options You can buy lengths of fibre pre made if your run allows the connectors to pass through the conduit, holes, etc... And not that much. I buy if from my local CSC. But do you need EXTERIOR and/or UNDERGROUND grade cable or is this going inside a conduit? You can buy converters for $100 up. You can buy a web managed switch to put at each end for not much more. Check out Dell's offering. David | ||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Doug McIntyre on January 22, 2008, 6:04 pm
Please log in for more thread options adykes@panix.com (Al Dykes) writes:
>I know that running copper between buildings is a Bad Idea.
If you want to avoid lightning strikes frying your gear, sure.. >Can someone recommend the specification designation for the cheapest
>type of fibre cable for short runs (100s of ft.) and point to a >specific transceiver that will convert the signal to UTP. UTP? Are you running Ethernet? I'm assuming you are. There really isn't that much out there. There's far more connector types in fiber as they change over the years than types of fiber. Your most basic is multi-mode fiber. It'll get you 500-600m for 1000-Base-SX transceivers. That sounds like in your likely ballpark. Get underground cable, and if you are trenching already, put it in cheap PVC conduit. As for gear on both ends, get a cheap fiber-switch. Ie. Dell PowerConnect 2716 with a 1000-Base-SX SFP on both ends is about $580 a side. There are media-converters, but they are about the same cost. You can probably get cheaper by going 100-Base-FX, but its getting to be hard to find any 100-Base-FX stuff, even on the used market, seeing as they stopped making all of it years ago. If you can though, 100-Base-FX should be half the cost of gigabit, but in general, we're talking only a few hundred in price difference. >Is ebay a place to get odd lengths of cable?
Potentially, but see answer on the next one. There's a 200' chunk on eBay for $400, but that is unterminated. See next answer. >Is there a practical DIY kit for termination or do we have to get
>pre-terminated lengths. There are field termination kits, but the cost on them generally starts at $800 and up. Plus at least 3-4 hours training, or probably 8 hours of DIY teach yourself, using up expensive consumables at the time that will run through probably $200-$300 worth. You can get custom cable made very cheaply made to length and to spec. Hmm, lets see, I haven't had any underground fiber assemblies quoted in a very long time. Lets see most recent non-underground, 150' of 6-strand single-mode in an armored jacket for $609. Terminated both ends with SC connectors with a factory polish (not field terminated). As far as materials go, thats really not bad even compared to copper? 150' of even 25 pair copper is going to be on the order of $200? >What are the distance and speed limits for Ethernets connected via
>inexpensive fibre? The Wikipedia article is really pretty good. 1000-Base-SX (gigabit speeds) over multi-mode get you 500-600m. That sounds like all you need really?? Doing 10Gbit in this day-and-age is still very expensive, and if you are concerned about costs of fiber, spending $25k-$75k for an XENPAK blade in your switch probably isn't in your budget. :) Doing 100-Base-FX is doable over the same exact fiber, and the gear will be a little cheaper than Gigabit. But gigabit is ubiquitous now. Its everywhere, and its fairly cheap. What kind of budget are you expecting? In most cases, labor is going to be far more expensive than the materials we are talking here? Maybe you think fiber is this strange magical beast that costs $100,000 to put in? Thats far from the case.... | ||||||||||||||||
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>
> Can someone recommend the specification designation for the cheapest
> type of fibre cable for short runs (100s of ft.) and point to a
> specific transceiver that will convert the signal to UTP.
>
> Is ebay a place to get odd lengths of cable?
>
> Is there a practical DIY kit for termination or do we have to get
> pre-terminated lengths.
>
> What are the distance and speed limits for Ethernets connected via
> inexpensive fibre?