Not sure if I should post this here or over in Technology, but here goes.
So I need to run two Gigabit (or better) network cables from the main switch in the garage into another room.
The problem is that that room is a shelter (small bunker), which according to Swiss regulations means no holes in the walls, and the ‘door’ is an airtight 35cm thick slab of reinforced concrete and steel. So the only way into that room is a small conduit for electricity. There’s no way two Cat7 cables fit into that conduit, and power and data cables are not allowed to share the same space anyway. That means the only viable option is fiber - and, considering the conduit’s dimensions, only fiber without a connector will go through.
There are copper/POF adapters readily available (such as this one), and they would probably do the job. However, POF is effectively limited to ~1Gbit half-duplex. If I go through all the trouble of installing fiber, I don’t want it to be inferior to the existing Cat7 copper cabling. If there’s a multimode solution that doesn’t require me to buy two four-figure Cisco switches and five-figure tools, I’d much prefer that. Has anyone here heard of such a thing?
If you’re going to run fibre, run at least a 12 core bundle, it’s probably not going to be much more expensive to run 24 as well, though, I found 12 is overkill for my house -> shed connection. If you can manage it given the space issues, pre-terminated MTP fibres are relatively inexpensive, then get yourself some MTP -> LC or SC pigtails or casettes on both ends, I found some MTP -> LC cassettes on eBay for under AUD$50, also old mellanox SFP+ PCIe cards for < AUD $40 and new SFP+ modules for 10gb fibre were $20. stick OpenWRT or OPNSense on an old computer with these cards and you’ve got yourself a 10Gb router :)
I did spend up on the ubiquiti 10Gb SFP+ aggregation switch though, which made things a bit easier!