This paper proposes an optical transmission link design method based on an optimum compensation scheme using dispersion compensating fiber (DCF), so that high-speed long-distance optical transmission would be possible over the conventional standard single mode fiber (SMF) link. The proposed design method provides the maximized transmission distances according to the signal speeds, where the amplifier spacing and repeater spacing are optimized wit respect to self-phase modulation(SPM) due to fiber nonlinearity and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noises caused by optical amplifies. It is also shown that there exists an optimum input signal power range balancing the effects of ASE noise and SPM for the given amplifier spacing and repeater spacing.