Fiber optic cabling is becoming the standard for high speed data communication in the industry. IH Communications sells, installs, & terminates fiber optic cable.

An optical fiber cable is a cable containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with plastic layers and contained in a protective tube suitable for the environment where the cable will be deployed. Different types of cable are used for different applications, for example long distance telecommunication, or providing a high-speed data connection between different parts of a building.

Advantages over copper wiring:

The advantages of optical fiber communication with respect to copper wire systems are:

Broad bandwidth

A single optical fiber can carry over 3,000,000 full-duplex voice calls or 90,000 TV channels.

Immunity to electromagnetic interference

Light transmission through optical fibers is unaffected by other electromagnetic radiation nearby. The optical fiber is electrically non-conductive, so it does not act as an antenna to pick up electromagnetic signals. Information traveling inside the optical fiber is immune to electromagnetic interference, even electromagnetic pulses generated by nuclear devices.

Low attenuation loss over long distances

Attenuation loss can be as low as 0.2 dB/km in optical fiber cables, allowing transmission over long distances without the need for repeaters.

Electrical insulator

Optical fibers do not conduct electricity, preventing problems with ground loops and conduction of lightning. Optical fibers can be strung on poles alongside high voltage power cables.

Material cost and theft prevention

Conventional cable systems use large amounts of copper. Global copper prices experienced a boom in the 2000s, and copper has been a target of metal theft.

Security of information passed down the cable

Copper can be tapped with very little chance of detection.

This information is taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_fiber