Why should hoteliers install optical fiber to the room rather than legacy copper cabling?
Traditionally, hotels and resorts are designed with up to six CAT6a copper cable drops per room. With Single Mode Fiber (SMF) cable and Passive Optical LAN (POL), only one fiber drop per room is required, while still providing the required number of ports for the in-room connectivity.
While installing one cable versus six cables already sounds better, a simple comparison of a single mode fiber against six CAT6a cables assuming a 300’ drop to one room shows the dramatic difference fiber can make in terms of cost, installation, and plenum space requirements.
| Criteria for one room | 1 Single Mode Fiber | 6 CAT6a Copper Cable |
| Diameter | 1/8-inch bundle | 1-inch bundle |
| Weight | 1 pound | 70 pounds |
| Bend Radius | 1/4-inch | 1-inch |
| Installation Tension | 48 pounds | 25 pounds |
| Capacity | in Terabits | in Gigabits |
| Cost | ~$66 | ~$594 |
If you would like to learn more about the real-world benefits of single mode fiber and Passive Optical LAN for hotels and resorts, please see page-3 of our Atlanta Marriott Marquis case study.
