Fiber is a physical medium used for data transmission and is classified as belonging to Layer 1 of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model. This layer focuses on the physical aspects of data transmission, including the physical cables, connectors, and signal encoding methods.
Layer 1, also known as the Physical Layer, handles the electrical and mechanical aspects of data transfer. It's responsible for transmitting raw bits of data over the network. Fiber optic cables, along with other hardware like repeaters and modems, fall under this layer.
While fiber is a key component of the physical layer, it doesn't directly interact with the higher layers of the OSI model. The data travels through the fiber as light pulses, and the higher layers handle the data's formatting, addressing, and routing.
In essence, fiber provides the physical infrastructure for data transmission, but it's the other layers that define how data is structured, sent, and received over the network.
