In today's digital age, fiber optic cable is king over the copper wire that had been used for years, at least, when it comes to communication. It may not work too differently than the copper that it is replacing, but the improvement in speed is very noticeable.

Optical fiber cable has the ability to send a light impulse along distances of glass or plastic fiber, which continues to reflect the light through the wire, which is insulated by layers of coating that may vary depending on the brand. This allows information to be carried from one point to another at a rate of speed that trumps copper. It then is only a matter of using the right cable for the job.
Types
Optical fiber comes in three different types: single mode, multi-mode and plastic. While there are variants in the coatings and different brands, they do not change the major uses or differences in costs of these fibers.
Operation
Single mode cable typically has a diameter somewhere between 8.3 and 10 microns (a micron is one-millionth of a meter). It has one mode of transmission, but it requires a single light source. Single mode often uses two strands of glass fiber in the cable.

Multi-mode cable is usually slightly bigger in diameter than single mode cable. Most are somewhere between 50-100 microns. Like single mode cable, it often uses two strands of fiber.

Plastic cable is a newer form of the cable that is around five times the diameter of multi-mode cable and uses plastic in the place. As its name implies, plastic cable uses plastic in place of glass.
Speed
When looking for speed, there is no comparison for single mode optical fiber and the other options. It is considerably faster than multi-mode optical fiber and plastic optical fiber. Multi-mode cables are faster and perform better than the plastic cables available on the market. However, plastic optical fiber as an industry is continuing to work on new developments, and that could change.
Distances
For greater distances without loss of the quality of transmission, single mode optical fiber optic cable is the best option. At almost 50 times the speed of multi-mode cable, it is often the choice for high speed connections larger than a LAN.

As with the speed, the quality of multi-mode fiber is higher than that of plastic optical fiber in how well information is transmitted over distances. The superiority of multi-mode may eventually be surpassed by plastic, as the technology for plastic optical fiber is still developing.
Uses
Single mode optical fiber is typically used for high speed intercity cabling.

Multi-mode works best with local area networks (LANs) and Storage Area Networks (SANs). It generally can provide all the bandwidth that a LAN or SAN would need, where single mode can be overkill for most networks.

Plastic optical fiber is still being improved, as is the technology that accompanies it, but it is showing some strong use in desktop LANs. Given time, it could find more uses as technology continues to advance.
Price
Because of its efficiency and fine fibers, single mode tends to be the most expensive of the three fiber optic cable. Plastic, due to the difference in the cost of material, tends to be cheapest with multi-mode's price range somewhere in between.

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