Fiber Selection Guide

How much fiber do you need?

• Fiber optic cables are often custom cut to match required lengths for each cable run, or you can order a reel matching your total length
and cut segments yourself. It’s advisable to include a safety buffer when ordering, with an additional 10% being common practice, despite
careful measurement of termination point distances.

How many strands of fiber do you need?

• Fiber optic cables commonly come in multiples of 2 fiber increments, such as 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 144 fiber configurations.
• Design engineers reserve spare fibers for potential breaks and future upgrades to the system.
• Ethernet Applications may need additional fibers (such as 1 gigabit to 10 gigabit, may require additional fibers)
• Anticipating future growth during cable installation proves cost-effective.
• Non-standard fiber counts can be manufactured to specific minimum quantities, though longer lead times will apply.
• Combining multiple cables, such as a 24-fiber and a 48-fiber cable, instead of using a single 72-fiber cable, can provide quicker access
to products and potentially easier installation, depending on cable pathways.

Determine the type of fiber (optical glass) you need.

• Singlemode fiber optic cables are ideal for high bandwidth and long-distance applications, while multimode cables, also suitable for high
bandwidth, are typically used for cable runs under 550 meters. These two types of cables require different electronics. Proterial Cable's stan-
dard singlemode glass, known as OS2, offers superior performance.

• Multimode fiber is offered in various performance levels, beginning with OM1 (62.5 micron core) and advancing to 50 micron core designs
like OM2, OM3, and OM4. "OM" stands for Optical Fiber Multimode, while "OS" signifies Optical Fiber Singlemode. It's important to note that
due to differences in core size, OM1 fibers cannot be connected to OM2, OM3, or OM4 fibers. Check the optical specifications for each prod-
uct for more details.

Difference between loose tube vs tight buffered fibers

• Tight buffered refers to the type of cable in which the fiber strands have an additional layer of material applied to the fiber, similar to
insulation around a copper conductor. This layer usually increases the size of the fiber strand from 250 micron to 900 micron. The 900 micron
size is the standard size for terminating fibers on a job site.

• Loose tube refers to cable designs where the fibers are 250 micron in diameter. They are color-coded to differentiate one fiber from anoth-
er. The small fiber diameter usually permits smaller cable diameters than tight buffered designs. Originally used in high-fiber outside plant
cables, loose tube fibers are now used indoors or anywhere where cable pathway space is limited. Termination of loose tubes requires either a
fan-out kit or the ability to splice connectors.

In what environment will the fiber optic cable be installed?

Cables constructions are specific to an environment, such as indoor, outdoor or both indoor/outdoor environments.
• Armored constructions offer additional protection, with interlock armoring common for indoor and indoor/outdoor cables, while cor-
rugated armoring is typical for traditional outside plant cables.
• When installing cables indoors or indoors/outdoors, ensure they are labeled with the appropriate NEC rating required for that loca-
tion, such as OFNP (Optical Fiber Non-conductive Plenum) or OFNR (Optical Fiber Non-conductive Riser). Cables containing metal
must be identified with a "C" in the rating, indicating conductive.
• Outdoor cables do not require an NEC rating but must be terminated within 50 feet of entering the building.

Optical Specifications Fiber type

Max. Attenuation
(dB/km)
Min OFL Bandwidth
(MHz-km)
Min EMBc Band-
width
Gb Ethernet
distance
10 Gb Ethernet distance
(m)
TIA/EIA-568-C.3 (MHz-km) (m)

ISO/IEC 11801, 2nd edition 850nm

(MM)
1300nm
(MM)
850nm
(MM)
1300nm
(MM)
850nm 1300nm
(MM) (MM)
850nm
(MM)
1300nm
(MM)
850nm
(MM)
1300nm
(MM)
Telcordia GR-409-CORE OM1 3.5 1.0 200 500 220 N/A 300 550 33 N/A
OM2 3.0 1.0 700 500 950 N/A 750 550 150 N/A
OM3 3.0 1.0 1500 500 2000 N/A 1000 550 300 N/A
OM4 3.0 1.0 3500 500 4700 N/A 1100 550 550 N/A
OM5* 3.0 1.0 3500 500 4700 N/A 1100 550 550 N/A

1310nm 1550nm 1310nm 1550nm 1310nm 1310nm 1550nm 1310nm 1550nm

1550nm
(SM) (SM) (SM) (SM) (SM) (SM) (SM) (SM) (SM)
(SM)
> > 10,000 -
OS2 0.5 0.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A 40,000
25,000 40,000 25,000

Proterial Cable America, Inc. | www.usa.proterial.com | 800. (800) 772-0116