Last month, I mentioned the poor quality of some fiber optic patchcords I tested. This month, I examine the subject of cable quality, both fiber and copper. The old saying goes, "a chain is only as stong as its weakest link," and that is especially true for cabling. A well-installed cable plant that passes all performance and/or certification tests can be undone by faulty patchcords. For both multimode and single-mode fiber optic patchcords, the most important specification is loss (although reflectance can also be a big problem for single-mode fiber).
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