Typical drop cable distances are less than 150 feet. The Dielectric Standard Single Tube Drop (SST-Drop) cable is an optical cable containing a single, 3 mm buffer tube with 1 to 12 fibers. This cable is an outside plant drop cable designed for aerial self-support, overlash, placement in conduit, or direct-buried applications. Optical drop cables are. Maximum Distance and Considerations for Running Fiber Drop Cable Fiber drop cables, also known as last-mile cables, are a crucial component of Fiber to the Home (FTTH) and Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) deployments. Attenuation is the progressive loss of signal strength that occurs as light travels through the fiber. Please refer to our General Installation (Datasheet Ref: CIG059) and Safety & Handling recommendations (Generic Optical cable MSDS - Datasheet Ref: 9980-02-1) before.