Fiber-Optic Cable

This is a cable made up of super-thin filaments of glass or other transparent materials that can carry beams of light. Using a laser transmitter that encodes frequency signals into pulses of light, data can be sent through through these cables at the speed of light. The receiving end of the transmission translates the light signals back into frequencies which can be read by a computer. Because fiber-optics are based entirely on beams of light, they are less susceptible to noise and interference than than other data-transfer mediums. However, the cables are fragile and are usually placed underground, which makes them difficult and expensive to install. Some fiber-optic cables are installed above ground, but if they break too many times, they need to be completely replaced, which is not cheap. The reason they need to replaced is because breaks in the cables can only be fixed a few times, whereas copper wires can be spliced as many times as needed.