ABSTRACT
Opticalfiberhasfew,ifany,advantagesovercopperwireswherelatencyisconcerned, however.Propagationlatencyismoreorlessthesamewitheithermedium.(Free-space opticsandradiochannelsactuallypropagate40percentto50percentfasterthanoptical fiberorcopperwire.)Queuing,routing,andpacketizationlatenciesarealsomuchthe same-afterall,theseoperationsareperformedelectronicallybeforetheyareconvertedto opticaldataflows.Anyplacethatopticalfiberisinstalledinsteadofcopperwire,itwillbe becauseofitshighthroughputcapacityorsomeotherfeature,notbecauseithassuperior latencycharacteristics.
