Question

1. A tester shows that a UTP cord has too much interference. What might be causing the problem? Give at least two alternative hypotheses.
2. Why is multimode fiber used in LANs?
3. You find that every time you heat your frozen dinner in the microwave, your hulu plus video streaming starts buffering on your laptop. What could be the problem?

Answer 1

a) UTP cables are susceptible to radio frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI) such as is caused from the microwave. Alternatives: Fibre optic and Coaxial Cable.

b) Multimode fiber optic cable has a large diametral core that allows multiple modes of light to propagate. Because of this, the number of light reflections created as the light passes through the core increases, creating the ability for more data to pass through at a given time. Because of the high dispersion and attenuation rate with this type of fiber, the quality of the signal is reduced over long distances. This application is typically used for short distance, data and audio/video applications in LANs.

c) Microwaves cause interference in signals.