Fiber patch panels and switches

[10gig]

Hi all – Is fiber typically run through a patch panel and switch before hitting the router, like Cat 6?

If so, how does the patch panel work? I can't tell from pictures I see on the web. I assume there's no equivalent to punching down wires as with twisted pair. Is a fiber patch panel just a coupler with, say, LC duplex on both sides?

Thanks.

 

[coxhaus]

When fiber is installed it is terminated like copper where you add a fiber jumper. It has a different term which does not come to mind right now than patch panel.

 

[Greg72]

Yes, PatchPanels are used, but fiber is now handled from a switch or SFP Media Converters that converts the light waves to Data over Copper. Fiber has never been ran as a LAN method. Too fragile with how much equipment gets moved around, aling with99.99% of equipment does not even hit 100mbit unless you are moving large amounts of data.

 

[jtjbt20x]

Fiber is used in home LANs:
http://www.l-com.com/content/Article.aspx?Type=N&ID=10318
http://www.cables-solutions.com/build-10g-home-network.html
http://www.l-com.com/content/Article.aspx?Type=N&ID=10318
http://www.l-com.com/content/Article.aspx?Type=N&ID=10318

https://www.lanshack.com/fiber-optic-tutorial-network.aspx

https://www.instructables.com/id/Building-POF-home-user-network/

 

[10gig]

Yes, PatchPanels are used, but fiber is now handled from a switch or SFP Media Converters that converts the light waves to Data over Copper. Fiber has never been ran as a LAN method. Too fragile with how much equipment gets moved around, aling with99.99% of equipment does not even hit 100mbit unless you are moving large amounts of data.

Thanks. As far as equipment moving around, what are we talking about? Desktop PCs and workstations?

As far as speeds, I have gigabit fiber internet from AT&T. I'm seeing a surprising number of motherboards with 2.5GBASE-T NICs now, and 10 gig NICs are available – both 10GBASE-T and SFP+. There are quite a few NASes out there with 2.5GBASE-T or faster, so it's pretty easy to have a home LAN with useful > 1 GbE speeds. It probably doesn't give a huge benefit for normal use, but it would be neat to have. Backups would certainly be faster.

 

[coxhaus]

Thanks. As far as equipment moving around, what are we talking about? Desktop PCs and workstations?

As far as speeds, I have gigabit fiber internet from AT&T. I'm seeing a surprising number of motherboards with 2.5GBASE-T NICs now, and 10 gig NICs are available – both 10GBASE-T and SFP+. There are quite a few NASes out there with 2.5GBASE-T or faster, so it's pretty easy to have a home LAN with useful > 1 GbE speeds. It probably doesn't give a huge benefit for normal use, but it would be neat to have. Backups would certainly be faster.

Sounds like you need a faster than 1 gig switch. Lots of alternatives.

 

[10gig]

Sounds like you need a faster than 1 gig switch. Lots of alternatives.

I'm not there yet since we live in a rental. I'm using MoCA to leverage the fiber – it's amazing. But I do want to play and experiment with fiber in the home soon.

 

[Greg72]

Unless you are producing video or music for a business, you will not get any benefit of 10 gig. Even by today’s standards, anything over 4mbps for music, or 30 mbps for video streaming, you are just wasting bandwidth. If you play video games online, you are not going to see any benefit with 10 gig if your ISP is not giving you that speed. AT&T does not even provide true gig speeds due to the limitations of their build out for their current plant.

Motherboards are coming with the faster Ethernet chipsets because businesses are pushing for those faster speeds on the LAN. Especially in the medical field with everything from imaging to video conferencing being done over the LAN.

 

[10gig]

Unless you are producing video or music for a business, you will not get any benefit of 10 gig. Even by today’s standards, anything over 4mbps for music, or 30 mbps for video streaming, you are just wasting bandwidth. If you play video games online, you are not going to see any benefit with 10 gig if your ISP is not giving you that speed. AT&T does not even provide true gig speeds due to the limitations of their build out for their current plant.

Motherboards are coming with the faster Ethernet chipsets because businesses are pushing for those faster speeds on the LAN. Especially in the medical field with everything from imaging to video conferencing being done over the LAN.

We pay for, and get, full 1 Gbps service from AT&T, up and down.

The way video streaming works is in bursts, followed by caching, so a nominal 30 Mbps is not the actual cap. 30 Mbps internet service would be incredibly slow for a modern user.