There are a wide range of fiber optic cable types, styles, and with different connectors on each end. Depending on what sort of distances you want to cover with your networking wiring and what kind of performance you expect, you might want to opt for one fiber optic cable type over another.

Our comprehensive guide to types of fiber optic cables. Learn all about the differences between single mode and multimode cables, as well as the various fiber wavelengths and standard core sizes used in fiber optics. Our page has everything you need to know about fiber optic cables.

There are three main types of fiber optic cables: You’ll most likely come across the single mode and multimode type, instead of the plastic optical fiber type, because of application and popularity. That being said, let’s take a closer look at each type.

This article will focus on the basic construction, fiber distance, cost, fiber color, etc., to make an in-depth comparison between single mode and multimode fiber types. Overview of Single Mode vs Multimode Fiber Optic Cable

Identified by ISO 11801 standard, multimode fiber optic cables can be classified into OM1 fiber, OM2 fiber, OM3 fiber, OM4 fiber and newly released OM5 fiber. The next part will compare these fibers from the side of core size, bandwidth, data rate, distance, color and optical source in details.