People new to network cabling can find it confusing. If you ever face a problem related to network cabling, you have probably made some avoidable mistakes. Here, we will discuss how you can prevent making such preventable mistakes when you are installing network cable.
Mistakes to Avoid When Running Network Cable
Following are the common mistakes you can avoid when running network cable:
1. Not Thinking about Tomorrow
Suppose your organization still works on 100 Mbps network connections, even when 1 Gbps is standard at present. Now, your office is shifting to a new location where you’d need to install new cabling. You will not want to use the past cabling technology and try to meet today’s demand.
Note that the top option will not be inexpensive, while the others will not be that effective. It is smarter to turn to a high-end cable that lasts you long before a change. Moreover, you might not jump to 10 Gbps, but at least you will want to upgrade to 1 Gbps.
2. Not Following Cable Management
If you hire an excellent cabling and wiring company, they will be able to help you out in this more than how well you’d do it yourself. Adding ladder rack or rack-based management are helpful approaches. It makes ongoing maintenance easy. You should label the cables and know their color codes. This also eases out the process.
3. Using Different Cables for Data and Voice
Most companies tend to install different cables for data and voice because twisted pair cabling is comparatively costly. Previously, the voice was not a picky service and needed just one pair of wires. Thus, people spent less money on voice and more for data.
People fail to understand that original wiring adds to labor cost. Moreover, with the rise of services like VoIP, voice has more demand and now requires similar cabling like data. It is smart to move towards advanced options like twisted pair cabling or give voice its due attention.
4. Running Network Cable and Electrical Cables in Parallel
Data cable uses unshielded twisted pairs for achieving goals. The magnetic field that runs through low voltage is critical for communications chain. When you run unshielded cabling in parallel with the electrical cables there is a hindrance in the magnetic field. This makes the communication noisy. Many times, the transmissions don’t go from one point to another. In the other cases, constant retry makes the communication slower. You should cross the electrical power lines in perpendicular. This helps both the cables do not come in each other’s way.
5. Running Cable Close to Noisy Products
Noise can be grabbed by data cabling more than the electrical wires. Using fluorescent lighting, cell phones, motors, are similar things that can draw a magnetic interference. It can wreck the cabling infrastructure. You must avoid these hazards to make network cabling smoother to use.
6. Not Testing Cable Infrastructure
Once you get the cable installed, you need to check if the cable is working correctly. You need to use the right tools and make sure that it suits the reason it has been intended to apply. It includes verifying the length and the specification of the cable. If you have taken 1 Gbps speed, then you must verify if you have that support.
Conclusion
These were some of the common problems that you can face with network cabling. It is smart to hire a company that will help you wire the cables in the right way. We advise you to not take complicated tasks on your own if you don’t have sound knowledge. Asking a specialist to take over such tasks saves time, and you can avoid all possible risks.
