You don’t have to know how a combustible engine works in order to drive a car on a vacation. And you don’t have to know the basic principles of refrigerator design in order to appreciate cold ice cream. And of course, you don’t know how the inner workings of a computer processer information in order to surf the web. However, when things break down on any of those types of machines it’s good to have a working knowledge to understand what needs to be done in order to affect a repair. Even the most basic of understandings will help you target a specific repair zone. Take for instance the very computer you’re reading this article on. Do you know exactly how the information you’re reading is coming your way? Two words: optical transceivers.

As you cruise the net, you probably might stop by many sites that pertain to improving your computer speed. In order to plug into cyberspace you’ll either go wireless or go hard line. The difference comes down to a matter of wires: you’ve either plugged in or you’re not. When using an Ethernet cable you’re running a line between your computer modem or router directly into your computer. The way that information passes between the cable and into your processers is by way of the optical transceiver. Average laptops have their optical transceivers on the side of the unit.

Within optical transceivers are arrays of modules. Most common among these would be the SFP modules which are connected to a gigabit Ethernet port. The larger bandwidth of the optical transceiver, the greater the ability to process date faster. That data is going to flow through the Ethernet cable passing in and out of the optical transceivers and then dispersing

If you really want to get technical about your SFP modules and optical transceivers (and who doesn’t?) you should know that the specific type of a module is determined by such key factors as optical wavelength, optical power, information transmission speed and the actually working distance between the servers who are releasing the information. When a SFP module can be fired up without plugging into an outside power source then it is consider a “hot pluggable”.

Now that you know all of this, you should be able to take a more thorough assessment of how your computer is working. With a little searching, you can find out what type of processing speed your computer is currently operating at by searching for “properties” when you right click your computer icon. There are many more components that make up the average computer but you won’t be able to read anything from the internet without quality optical transceivers or SFP modules working in perfect harmony. As you shop for a new computer or for ways to improve your current model you should be on the lookout for those processor speeds and brands of optical transceivers. The more you know the stronger position you’ll be in for the best internet surfing.

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