Glowing fibre optic cables in the dark
18.04.2023

Fibre optics simply explained

How does the technology work and what are the advantages?

It is no longer possible to imagine our everyday life without the internet. Whether for work, leisure, communication with other people or even the household – we depend on our data being transmitted quickly and reliably. Fibre optic connections are playing an increasingly important role in this. In this blog post, we explain what fibre optic is, how the technology works and what advantages it offers.

 

What is fibre optic?

An optical fibre is a long, wafer-thin fibre made of quartz glass. Unlike copper cables, it transmits information in the form of light rather than electrical signals. This means that data in the form of light signals can be transmitted at lightning speed over long distances – without any loss of quality. Internet speed reaches completely new dimensions with fibre optic technology: Data rates in the giga- to terabit range are possible per second.

 

How does fibre optic technology work?

Fibre optic cables are optical waveguides (OWG). In a fibre optic cable, many optical fibres made of glass are bundled together. The cable consists of three components: An inner core that transports data as optical light signals, a jacket around the fibre optic core that prevents the light from escaping, and an outer jacket made of plastic that protects the sensitive fibre optic cable. Unlike copper cables, which transmit electrical signals, fibre optic cables transport data in the form of light. More precisely, light particles (photons) transport the data from a transmitter to a receiver.

 

What are the advantages of fibre optics compared to DSL?

The biggest advantage of fibre optics is the almost unlimited performance of the internet connection. Compared to copper lines, fibre optic cables enable significantly higher data transfer rates. This means that huge amounts of data can be uploaded and downloaded at breakneck speed via a fibre optic connection. With the increasing amount of data that needs to pass through the network, this is becoming more and more important. This is the case as digitalisation advances in many areas and the use of internet-based applications and services increases. New technologies such as the Internet of Things or artificial intelligence also generate large amounts of data that must be transmitted and processed. In addition, higher resolutions for videos and images lead to larger file sizes and thus to a higher data volume. Other advantages of fibre optics over copper are lower susceptibility to interference, scalability and climate friendliness. A positive side effect: fibre optic connections have a positive impact on the increase in the value of a property. Fibre optic technology conserves resources and consumes 17 times less energy for data transmission than a DSL or VDSL copper network. In this way, fibre optics contribute to reducing global CO2 emissions.

 

What does FTTX actually mean?

FTTX stands for “Fibre to the X“, where X stands for different endpoints or connection types, such as “H” for “home”, “B” for “building”, “C” for “curb” or “D” for “desk”.

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