North Coast Electric Company

Are your patch cables up to standard? If not it could be because your patch cables are not being tested by the manufacturer to the current TIA 568C.2 standard.

You may have heard the old addage that 80% of the failures in a network occur because of bad patch cables. I have seen this to be true in some cases. I read an article late last year that speaks about one reason why this may be happening. It speaks about Offshore products and how they may look like the real deal but the material that is being manufactured overseas and labled as Cat 6 certified may not be up to standard. This should be something you should consider when you are making a patch cable change in your network.

Other problems that may contribute to cables not meeting performance requirements:

• Connections may test out ok using a simple continutity tester but it may not be giving you the cat 6 performance that you initially paid for
• They are being terminated by non certified or trained technicians
• In house technicians may have terminated plugs on solid conductor cables
• This is not advised for a long term solution. Solid conductors can break if they are subject to movement over time
• Technitions may not have tested the cables to meet the proper performance standards
• Shielded plugs may not be terminated correctly and grounding issues may occur
• Distance limitations may be ignored
• Cable protection problems may occur (strain relief products may not be installed)
• Cable management may not have been considered and cables could be in positions that cause undew strain or may have exceeded bend radius limitations
• Using standard network cables in an industrial enviornment

Terminating patch cables may be the quickest solution to a problem and it may be a good solution for a quick fix but over time this is where a lot of headaches can occur. You may think you are saving yourself a dollar or two by terminating your own cables, but this action may cost you thousands in network down time. When in doubt, seek advice from a professional.