How To Achieve The Lowest Cost Possible When Installing A Fiber Optic Network
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How To Achieve The Lowest Cost Possible When Installing A Fiber Optic Network

Fiber optic components
The purpose of this article is to show you the available options for termination a fiber optic cable installation project. I will compare the pros and cons of different termination approaches.
Fiber optic cable termination can be divided into Fiber Patch Cables two major groups: factory termination and field termination.
Field technicians face important trade-offs in deciding which approach to choose. For tighter loss budget, the best approach is factory terminated cables since it is much easier to achieve loss loss and high quality connector terminations in a controlled factory environment. On the other hand, field terminations provide far more flexibility in meeting system requirements.
Pros of factory termination
1. The factory has to guarantee the quality. Fiber optic manufacturers have highly trained technicians and high quality equipment for the job. Factory technicians usually are expert on fiber connector polishing and they produce thousands of fiber optic patch cords and fiber pigtails on a daily basis.
2. Factory termination provides the lowest cost. Since factories produce mass quantity of fiber patch cords, they have reduced the cost to the lowest possible point. This is the most economic choice.
Cons of factory termination Media Converters
Factory termination doesn't provide as much flexibility as field termination. You have to write down the list of fiber lengths and quantities and you have to make sure that you have enough spare length of cable for each termination.
Pros of field termination
1. Field termination provides the best flexibility in meeting system requirements. You can just pull the fiber cables and terminate them later.
2. You can do on-the-spot repairs wherever there is a defective fiber link. This is the biggest advantage of doing the termination yourself.
Cons of field termination Network Adapters
1. High cost. You need some polishing tools and supplies. Field termination quality are OK for multimode applications, but for single mode applications, you'd better leave that to factory termination.
2. The field termination technician must be highly skilled. He would have to practice a lot offline before doing the real work. A bad termination can cost you both time and money.
OK. You must already have a pretty clear idea on the choices for fiber cable installation now. Let's examine in more details on the available options for each category.

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