I am helping out a local church with their streaming setup. We want to run a 90m cable for the sake of reliability to replace the current WiFi AP being used. I had to drop the WiFi modulations down to 802.11g levels to stop packet loss on WiFi, although we don’t consider WiFi to be a good long term solution.
Initially, I wanted the cable run to use armored solid core STP cat6a terminated to keystone jacks with stranded twisted pair patch cables connecting the ends to equipment through the keystone jack, but I cannot find a cable that meets this description (although fs.com has a non-armored bulk cable that matches the other requirements). I wanted it to be armored for rodent resistance just in case because it is an old building. I wanted it to be solid core, shielded and cat6a to ensure signal integrity. I wanted the keystone jacks to ensure that there is minimal movement to prevent failures from metal fatigue.
After thinking about it, even if I could find a suitable cable, a high quality copper twisted pair cable is pricy and the budget is limited. I decided to suggest to the rest of the team that we run an armored simplex SMF, which is both much cheaper. It is also the cheapest possible fiber configuration that I could find at fs.com:
- https://www.fs.com/products/20745.html
- https://www.fs.com/products/75335.html
- https://www.fs.com/products/75336.html
- https://www.fs.com/products/100957.html
It adds up to about $120. The others involved with the project are skeptical about the reliability of active components between the two endpoints, but I countered by saying that it is both immune to electrical interference and likely easier on the budget than a good copper cable.
I was under the impression that fiber optics are more reliable than copper over long for copper distances. What do others have to say about this?
Also, I did not want the signals being too strong, so I picked the lowest distance transceivers that I could find. Is there any risk of the cable needing optical attenuation given how short it is?
Lastly, I actually need a switch at the end where the streaming equipment is (which is a tough sell because of other team members’ skepticism of active components), but the budget is limited. Would it be terrible if I used this mikrotik device and given the limited budget, are there any cheaper options with good reliability?
https://www.amazon.com/MikroTik-Gigabit-Ethernet-Router-RB760iGS/dp/B07F7HDRKX
No comments:
Post a Comment