Single Fiber Connection: Each fiber strand typically supports a single connection. This connection can be either simplex (one-way communication) or duplex (two-way communication). Each pair would be connected to the switch/router individually but the total capacity basically gets added up. If the provider is willing to invest more per gbps. For example, if you have three optical fiber access switches, you need to have three cores. (actually use a four core optical cable) This is because apart from one-core optical fiber, there are basically no optical cables with an odd number of cores, such as three-core, five-core, etc. It is worth. This guide walks you through the simple decision steps engineers use, the common strand counts on the market, and clear rules-of-thumb for different project types so you choose a cable that fits both today's needs and tomorrow's growth. Begin by listing what the network must support now and in five. 1.