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Handmade vs. Commercially Produced Ethernet Cables
An anonymous reader writes "We have a T1 line coming into our satellite office and we rely fairly heavily on it to transfer large amounts of data over a VPN to the head office across the country. Recently, we decided to upgrade to a 20 Mbit line. Being the lone IT guy here, it fell on me to run cable from the ISP's box to our server room so I went out and bought a spool of Cat6. I mentioned the purchase and the plan to run the cable myself to my boss in head office and in an emailed response he stated that it's next to impossible to create quality cable (ie: cable that will pass a Time Domain Reflectometer test) by hand without expensive dies, special Ethernet jacks and special cable. He even went so far as to say that handmade cable couldn't compare to even the cheapest Belkin cables. I've never once ran into a problem with handmade patch cables. Do you create your own cable or do you bite the bullet and buy it from some place?"
While it may be cost effective to crimp and cut your own cable when you are making less than 20 dollars an hour once you are making 20 dollar+ just buy it.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
It's clearly not your company's core business to make their own patch cables. It may be fun for you to wittle down your own toothpics from lincoln logs but if it's not in your job description it ain't going to fly. Seriously, just buy the damn stuff and do what your boss has asked.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
If you get the rated speed and it's reliable, need we delve further?
Why put your neck on the line? If you make a cable and anything goes wrong, even if it happens later on, you're blamed. If something happens with the Belkin cable, you can blame Belkin. Even if it isn't Belkin's fault. Especially after your boss has told you to do something. Whenever you go up against an authority figure, the best you can hope for is proving them wrong. It's better to say "What a great idea boss!" and buy the cable. If it works, great. If it doesn't work, don't rub it in. Besides, do you really want to crimp your own cables?
Wait a minute. Your boss is telling you to buy cables instead of toiling to make your own, and you're _complaining_? I don't think a self-terminated link of CAT6 will have the slightest trouble maintaining 20 megabits, but that's not the point.
Word of advice, take his word for him and nod. If he's willing to spend money to make your job easier, then keep that job!
Your cables would be fine, but if ANYTHING ever goes wrong the first thing your boss will say is "It's probably that damn cable you made when I told you to buy one." It's just not worth it.
Obviously your boss isn't good at making cables. While if you lack the skill to do something like make cables with care you're going to have problems, there's no reason that you can't make your own cables and have them perform just as well as the ones made by a machine in a factory.
They can put it under the "Tech" section if they like, but this is really another disappointing Ask Slashdot. It's disappointing because too many of these have this format: "my boss at work wants me to do X, but I'd really rather do Y; what are the merits of X versus Y?" All of them need to be summarily rejected, with a polite e-mail sent to the submitter which says "within the bounds of the law, you need to do what your boss asks you to do whether or not you necessarily agree with it. If you cannot convince your boss to do otherwise, and this is a problem for you, perhaps you should consider working elsewhere."
The other disappointing category of Ask Slashdot-type submissions are those questions that are factual in nature and have only one correct (and rather well-known, easily researched) answer. Asking a large group with varying levels of expertise makes a lot of sense when there are multiple possible solutions to a problem and there is room to be creative. It makes no sense when it's more of a yes/no question -- remember the recent Ask Slashdot that asked whether spam is increased by trying to opt-out of spam e-mails? That's an excellent case in point, and not atypical either. That should have been an "Ask Google", not an "Ask Slashdot".
I think it's a shame that the quality of these particular submissions are on the decline. There's nothing inherently wrong with the "Ask Slashdot" format and there are a lot of very knowledgable people who browse this site. I'd love to see how creative they can be. It's just never going to be as good as it easily could be when it's handled this way.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
It's disappointing because too many of these have this format: "my boss at work wants me to do X, but I'd really rather do Y; what are the merits of X versus Y?" All of them need to be summarily rejected, with a polite e-mail sent to the submitter which says "within the bounds of the law, you need to do what your boss asks you to do whether or not you necessarily agree with it. If you cannot convince your boss to do otherwise, and this is a problem for you, perhaps you should consider working elsewhere."
Just pretend that the question is "how should I convince my boss that Y is better than X?". It's like asking legal questions on Ask Slashdot: the real question is "what should I know before my appointment with a lawyer?".
Maybe I'm missing your point... but I think the submitter is aware of what he's REQUIRED to do. This puts his question more on the theoretical, "If I were the boss..." , but still does not invalidate the question. Just because he may be unable to act on the advice gained here, why does that make the question bad? There may be plenty of other situations where he CAN apply the advice, or any of the rest of us reading can use said advice.
Bull! Entirely aside from what the submitter should do to protect their job, it is topical on slashdot to question whether DIY ethernet cables are any good, just as people on a home repair DIY site might discuss whether doing drywall yourself is worthwhile.
When the only answer slashdotters can imagine is "just pay somebody else to do it," that is the day there is no point reading here.
Monster cables are nothing but a name. I can make higher quality cables out of old telephone wire and snickers bars than anything Monster puts out. Seriously, that whole gold plated thing is a bunch of bullshit. Who gives a damn if your connectors are gold plated, the wire running through the rest of the cable is still plain old wire. The only thing monstrous about them is the price.
DJCalarco
I've personally crimped thousands of patch cables and other ethernet lines in Cat5 and Cat5e. However, it's been my understanding that it is nigh impossible to field crimp Cat6 to meet specs. That may have changed, since the last time I asked was a couple of years ago. Cat5 and 5e are relatively easy, and as others mentioned, making your own eliminates messy loops of extra cable hanging about. And there's some satisfaction from making your own stuff as well. But Cat6? As others mentioned, it's probably cheaper and better in the long run to purchase ready-made cables from a reputable source.
Little girls, like butterflies, need no excuse. -- L. Long
The problem with the "grab whatever if it's temporary" is that temporary solutions oftentimes become more permanent than anything. I have had many experiences where fixing a problem in the server room exposes some "temporary" fix from years ago that I never had time to make permanent (and since it worked, nobody thought twice about the problem it had fixed).
Or when developing web applications, somebody implements that "quick function" that does X, intended only for internal stuff. Another feature comes along, and pretty soon we're using that temporary function as the core of a new system... and sometimes it even gets embedded into the core of the system. But remember, it was only temporary.
Sanity is like a condom: rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
They can put it under the "Tech" section if they like, but this is really another disappointing Ask Slashdot. It's disappointing because too many of these have this format: "my boss at work wants me to do X, but I'd really rather do Y; what are the merits of X versus Y?" All of them need to be summarily rejected, with a polite e-mail sent to the submitter which says "within the bounds of the law, you need to do what your boss asks you to do whether or not you necessarily agree with it. If you cannot convince your boss to do otherwise, and this is a problem for you, perhaps you should consider working elsewhere."
I don't know about you, but I was hired for my technical expertise. It is part of my job description to let management know when they are making bad technical decisions. If they still insist after that, then sure, I gotta shrug my shoulders and do it; but until then, it's my job to find out the facts and make sure they stay informed...which is exactly what the questioner is doing.
Save the "shut up and do as you're told" bit for McDonald's burger-flippers. We're professionals here.
If you have a substantial distance to run, a patch cable may not be the best option. Patch cables are (or should be) made of stranded conductors to make them more flexible and reduce metal fatigue. They are not recommended for long distances. A permanent link cable is made of solid conductor wire and carries the signal better at longer distances. Keep in mind that a CAT5e/6 ethernet connection is limited to 100M/328ft. If you need to run solid conductor, installing the data jacks is much easier than installing the crimp-on RJ45 ends and much more reliable. Doing it this way would simply require two short patch cables to tie the permanent link to your devices. My $.02.
Existence is futile
Best advice I've ever heard on cabling:
If you have to drill holes to run it, make your own. If you don't buy it premade.
Second best advice:
Test it all. Even if it comes in a shrink wrap package.
-- $G
This principle of going with the provider you can sue over the one you can rely on is becoming far too prevalent.
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with Belkin, and I think in this situation the pre-made cables are the better option.
However, in a more general sense, I'd prefer that my systems didn't go down rather than being able to point the finger when they do. If you are the front end provider of a service your customers are not going to be placated by the fact that, even though all their data is gone, you are currently seeking glorious retribution from the guy that solders the LEDs onto your motherboards (or whatever).
On top of this, when things go tits up at three o'clock in the morning - you can be sure the Belkin shop won't be open.
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
This is a CYA issue. Your boss does not want to explain to HIS boss, when a cable goes bad and the company is losing $large_number per hour until it is diagnosed and fixed, that he authorized one of his tech guys to use "homemade" cables.
Yo dawg, I heard you like the Ackermann function, so OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD
They are made at specific lengths for marketing reasons. All of the "transmission line" characteristics of Ethernet cable have been solved for every length within the specified maximum.
I have a whole data center (~32 rows of 22 racks) fully cabled with lengths ranging from 100 meters to 5 inches (crossover between 1U boxes). They are cut to custom lengths, source to destination. Where their port is on the router and where they were placed in the tray add and subtract inches here and there. They run to the patchpanels in bundles about 7 inches in diameter. We have no problems with crosstalk, reflections, intermod and what have you.
If this were coaxial Ethernet we could have a fun discussion... but those days are well behind us.
I used to work for an IT consulting / do-it all shop in a small town. One of our big things was wiring businesses.
For switch to outlet wiring we made our own cables. It was a lot easier than guessing what lengths of cable we needed to go up the wall, across the ceiling, and wherever else. At the switch we'd put a plug at the end and at the wall we'd put an outlet or plug (if it was going into a pre-wired cubical).
All walled cables were tested using a basic 6 light tester. I'd recommend that be done even if you bought a 200ft commercial cable and put it into the wall. It is a lot easier to test it now and fix it than have to come back later and fix it.
For wall - PC patch cables and switch to box patch cables we'd use basic commercial 3,6,9 ft 5e cables. Generally purchased from Greybar in bulk. If you use proper cable routing techniques (with proper cable holders) in the server room you can keep it clean. If you use custom length cables in there you end up having to make new cables every time you need to change the connections around.
Here's how people screw up cables:
1. They just match colors at either end and don't pick a standard pinout (T568A or B). That might result in a usable 10mbps link, but it won't work at 100 or 1000.
2. They mix 568A and 568B - usually wiring A in the wall, and using premade B patch cables. Instant crosstalk. OK on very short runs, but anything longer than 80' to 100' will become problematic with many NICs.
3. They score the insulation. Use the right tools, and adjust the tension on the stripper.
4. They only strip 1/2" of insulation and try to organize the cables and jam it in, so you don't get a clean connection on all the conductors - or might miss one completely. Strip the insulation back 2", then you have room to sort the conductors, trim them neatly then you can slide them all the way to the end of the terminator, then the clips will "bite" each conductor twice - cleanly, resulting in a good connection and a strong link.
Your boss sounds like an idiot and a hack.
If you're going from the wall to the PC I'd say yeah, buy a premade cable and save on labor. Just buy a good one. Believe it or not monoprice's cheap stuff is extremely good.
From the patch panel to the switch, it depends on the length. Will a premade cable fit the length well? Go premade. If not, then make the cables.
Ultimately though, your boss is the boss. If he insists on hanging patch cables loose through the wall, etc. just document it in email, send it to him with your recommendation, etc. so that when he comes back to you complaining that it looks hack or that the cabling was overpriced, you can remind him that you recommended otherwise.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50