Topic 2 - fibre optics broadband

Question 1

BANDWIDTH

Answer 1

Bandwidth is a measure of the number of distinct signals at different frequencies that a network can carry

Internet speed is a measurement of how fast things are transferred. Bandwidth and speed are often synonymous when measuring how fast you can download a file.

Question 2

WAVE DIVISION MULTIPLEXING

Answer 2

In optical fibres, we can increase the amount of data that can be transmitted at any given point by sending light of different colours (frequencies) down the same fibre at the same time. Each frequency of light carries an additional channel of information. This process is called ‘Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM).

Question 3

‘Lag’

Answer 3

Lag’ is often referred to by online gamers and is a common word for Latency - Bandwidth and latency are connected. If the bandwidth is saturated (i.e. every channel is being used) then congestion occurs and latency is increased. However, if the bandwidth of a circuit is not being fully used, the latency will not decrease. Bandwidth can always be increased but latency cannot be decreased. Latency is dictated by the function and quality of the electrical characteristics of the circuit.