Patent ID: 7773844

Claim:
A communications coupling for a low bandwidth fiber optic cable and a high bandwidth fiber optic cable, the coupling comprising: a guiding ferrule adapted for coupling to a surrogate fiber optic cable comprised of one of the low bandwidth fiber optic cable and the high bandwidth fiber optic cable, the guiding ferrule comprising at least one mounting feature for aligning the guiding ferrule with an optical axis of the surrogate cable; and the guiding ferrule further comprising at least one guiding feature for aligning the optical axis of the surrogate fiber optic cable with an optical axis of a connecting fiber optic cable, the connecting fiber optic cable comprised of the other one of the low bandwidth fiber optic cable and the high bandwidth fiber optic cable, wherein: at least one of the fiber optic cables includes an overlapped section defined as an entire section thereof, which is perimetrically surrounded by the at least one guiding feature, and the at least one guiding feature includes a flanged opening extending axially along a substantial entirety of the overlapped section of the at least one of the fiber optic cables.