1. A method for updating a reference trace of reflective characteristics in an optical fiber, the reference trace being stored in a memory, the method comprising the steps of: receiving parameters from a test OTDR trace T test of the optical fiber; retrieving from the memory parameters from a reference OTDR trace T ref ; comparing a gross distance D test of the test OTDR trace T test with a gross distance D ref of the reference OTDR trace T ref using statistical bounds; and if relative magnitudes of D test and D ref cannot be resolved within statistical bounds, then (a) correlating reference fiber characteristics represented by an array parameter P[ ] ref with test fiber characteristics represented by an array parameter P[ ] test ; and (b) replacing the reference OTDR trace T ref in the memory with the test OTDR trace T test if there is a statistically significant variance between the array parameters P[ ] ref and P[ ] test .