Both belong in a modern building — the skill is knowing which run gets which medium. A practical decision guide.
Copper is fast to terminate, cost-effective for short horizontal runs, and perfectly capable at the distances most desks and access points ever need. Fiber earns its place on the backbone: long runs between floors and buildings, high-bandwidth uplinks, and any path where electrical noise or distance would degrade copper. In practice we map every run before pulling a single cable — distance, bandwidth, environment, and growth headroom — then standardize so future changes stay simple. The wrong medium is rarely a disaster on day one; it is a slow tax you pay on every move, add, and change for years.
