multimode bandwidth

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 Question by robert to posted 02 Aug 2000
 multimode bandwidth
Dear sir:
i would like to find out what is the bandwidth and maximun distance per bandwidth for 1) Multimode fiber optic cabling and 2) Single-mode fiber optic cabling . Pls provide an URL for the information. Thanks a lot!
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 Answer by Roman Kitaev posted 04 Aug 2000
Hi, Robert!

Multimode fiber bandwidth and distance is measured in "MHz*km" . The typical values are below:

62.5/125 MM fiber:
160 - 300 MHz*km (850 nm)
500 - 1500 MHz*km (1300 nm)

50/125 MM fiber:
500 - 1000 MHz*km (850 nm)
500 - 1500 MHz*km (1300 nm)

For example, if your distance is 1.5 km, then the bandwidth of a 62.5 MM fiber (200 MHz*km) at 850 nm is (200 MHz*km)/(1.5 km) = 133.33 MHz

As a general rule, MM fiber is used for data rates up to 155 Mb/s for distances of less than 2 km and for data rates up to 1 Gb/s for distances of less than 500 m.

For actual distances, please refer to network applications standards.


Singlemode (SM) fiber has a very high bandwidth (up to 20 GHz, speeds up to 10 Gb/s) and can cover very large distances (up to 120 km). It is ideal for local network applications having links over 2 km.

For actual distances, please refer to network applications standards.

Best regards
Roman Kitaev, RCDD

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