Home network Fibre optic vs Ethernet

Fiber is fragile, does not like bends, requires skill and equipment to terminate and test,  and is expensive.  We used it in large data centers for Gig-E and higher. Also handy in very noisy, and I mean VERY noisy environments.  We use it for security reasons as you can't inductively tap it. If running fiber, then you have the added expense and failure modes of fiber to copper transceivers. Fiber transmitters and receivers are more failure prone than copper.  Do not forget all fiber is not the same. Multi-mode or single mode? For the specific layer one, how many fibers? Which connectors? Oh, yea, we had more issues with errors from the transceivers than the actual runs. 

But for a house? Cat-5. Cat-6 is actually an advertising made up term. 5+ is the same bandwidth but as the pairs are bonded, over long runs ( hundreds of feet) they have a more consistent impedance for Gig-E. Shielded cable is also only useful for long runs in terrible environments or where required for medical certification.  

I know there is a lot of talk about errors and noise, "audio" switches etc. But if running Ethernet, you are running TCP/IP which will with the protocol resend the packets until they all get the correct check sums and then deliver them in sequence.  Any bit drop or noise goes away in the first three layers of the stack. 

IF you have ground loop issues and you have not applied sufficient black magic to fix them, and if you can identify your network in a small domain like a house, then opto-isolators can help.  We used them on buss and tag lines back when IBM demanded their CPU to be on a different lines branch from third party.  Probably irrelevant in a house. 

Your money of course. Don't let audiophile rumor re-posters or armchair "seams reasonable" pontificators who spending your money overshadow reality. Just because something exists does not mean you need it.   I am not an expert, but I did have a career in industry and Government in failure analysis, R/W engineering, data systems architecture, SA and SE  in life-threat reliability systems so I know a little.  I have polished my share of fiber. :)

So don't zip-tie your phono cable right on top of your ethernet  😀

OK, run your Ethernet down the opposite side of a wall cavity from your power lines. Just good dress.    If I had unlimited budget and was building a house, I would be running all my power in BX cable for safety and rodent proofing. BX is not that much more than Romex and a lot easier than thin-wall. 

Remember, CAT-5 is twisted pair so it's rf emissions are pretty low to start with.  Good cable dress, cross at right angles, minimize analog cable lengths etc.  Do the basics.  You can always do a test.  Listen to your record player while having an ethernet cable next to it streaming video or large file transfer. .Worse case.  High level interconnects are far less susceptible. ( well, maybe if running those silly Kimber unshielded twisted pairs as interconnects)   Pick-up in power lines falls under the fantasies domain. ( You do have twisted pair power cords, right? ).  How much WI-FI, BT, LED,CFL, PC emissions around your system?  Do you know how strong AM, FM and TV radiation is permeating everything?   Look at your system as a whole is all I am saying.  I had my DAC Velcro'd to the back of an all-in-one PC and it had zero interference. 

Of course, phone stage sensitivity is why I believe they should be built into the base of the arm. Many years ago, I was trying to build a gain of 10 buffer in the headshell but I could not afford the prototype ceramic substrate cost.  Design had 4 RF bare die transistors and 6 thin film resistors. SPICE said it would work! Then came CD's so I abandoned it. 

Upshift makes a good point. I did a similar, running 3 inch PVC from where my rack was to where my amps, speakers and TV sat.  Long string I could pull end to end from either end so I snaked my balanced lines and video through it. ( S in those days)  Up, into attic, over and down.  The other trick is to  a vacuum cleaner to suck a thread through a run, pull a heavier string with it. 

Jeffery, I guess you have not dealt with fiber yourself. I have. 

Do you have a cleave anvil? Polishing machine? Inspection microscope? Curing oven?   Have you looked into the specs for bend radius?   OK, LC connectors are cheaper than ST and mass production of fixed length patch cables cables has come down some. That does not change all the other parameters. 

Now, in MD. I had FIOS to the house. Professionally installed and the MODEM was hard mounted fixed to the wall unlike a Coax running to a stand alone MODEM/Router.  They did have to re-terminate one fiber as the polishing was not correct. A fiber network, overhead or underground, is immune from proximity strikes so a lower long tern support cost. 

Version put it in to replace the old Scripps- Howard twin-coax system. FIOS, and I assume the GOOGLE fiber being run close by, has way wider potential BW  ( short range 25G for multi-mode, 100G for single mode or 10G up to 6 miles.  So one can have full cable TV with hundreds of simultaneous channels, and several HD gamers on one node. A WAN network on fiber takes less power and fewer repeaters than copper which is most likely the driving force for neighborhood install.

Inside the house was RG-6 coax from MODEM to the router, CAT-5 distribution only because I ran out of CAT-3.  I can terminate Ethernet with a $12 crimper. 

A copper NIC for a PC is about $5 if you don't have one. Fiber about $150.  I am not aware of any streamer, AVR, or TV with a fiber NIC, so adapters. $$$$$  Oh, you need a fiber router?  Starting at about $6000.  Cisco makes good ones. OOPS, most cable systems probably don't support it. 

Of course, WI-FI and BT are in-house options. They work pretty well. But I am of the school like Bill Gates.  If it does not move, cable it. If it does, RF it.  Conserve the limited RF BW to where we need it. I had to reconfigure my WI-FI a couple of time to avoid surrounding houses and we are pretty spread out on multi-acre lots. 

Summary: Fiber to the house makes sense from a long term maintenance and future services needing insane BW.  Fiber in the house does not.  That may change in the future, but for now, it is what it is.