💾 Archived View for over9k.tech › log › 2.5-2-22.gmi captured on 2022-06-03 at 23:04:31. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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I think Instead of copper Ethernet cabling, I’m going to outfit the backhauls of my house with fiber.
There are very few actual things that need to be connected via hardwire in my house, but the things that do need to be connected, are going to be in their places long term, access points, and a switch or two in the office / living room.
Feeding them with fiber seems to be an obvious choice for me, as I will only have to replace the SFP cages or media converters on either end to upgrade to ten gigabit one day.
It also helps that fiber is thinner and generally easier to feed and route in my house’s case. I’ve done a trial run with both and fiber was hands down the easiest.
Another compound factor is my house was built in the 50’s when electric code was way more lax about grounding, along with me being a Ham Radio operator.
Which leads to noise and extraneous RF noise on the lines. That parasitically couples to the copper ethernet, even when shielded and twisted. Since fiber is just glass it electrically isolates the devices you so there isn’t any RF transferred, or picked up on the cable that could cause packet loss. Even if my shack produces no RF feedback into the power lines via common mode current, the RF produced by the actual wigglies going into the atmosphere is high enough power to affect packet throughout in my testing.