Fiber is fragile. We know that fiber is made of very pure glass, so it is natural to assume that copper or steel is stronger than an optical fiber. The truth is that fiber has greater tensile strength than either one of those metals of the same diameter. Fiber is very flexible and can resist many elements that would corrode copper cable. Optical cable can also tolerate pulling forces of more than 150lbs., about 6 times more than Cat 5 cable.
Fiber is hard to work with. Early fiber optic connectors had many small parts and were difficult to apply to the fiber end. They needed epoxy, curing, cleaving and polishing. Some connectors have eliminated those steps. Many connectors still require those processes, but the technologies governing each step has evolved to speed connectorization. Ovens, quick cure epoxy and polish machines are examples of better technology.
Fiber is expensive. Just as in any other technology, more advances mean lower prices. For example, when VCRs first appeared they were priced at more than $1000. Now they can be had for under $250. Prices between Cat 5 and fiber are comparable. But in the long run fiber may be less expensive because of the ability to upgrade without running new wire, easier to maintain and it is more reliable.
Fiber has no place to the desktop. As video and video conferencing become more popular along with large files and databases, desktop computers will need the huge bandwidth that fiber can provide. Remember when Commodore 64 computers were top of the line? Now the average computer game probably would not fit in its memory.
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