A pigtail is a short fiber with a factory-polished connector on one end and bare fiber on the other. When you build or upgrade a fiber network, the same four words pop up everywhere— fiber optic (bare fiber), pigtail, patch cord, optical cable. They're related, but they are not interchangeable. Mixing them up drives costs higher, increases loss, and slows your rollout. Connection Relationship: Step 1: Access outdoor fiber optic cables into fiber terminal box for the purpose of splicing the optical fiber cable and fiber optic. An optical transceiver is a small electronic module that sits between network hardware and fiber cable.