Should Network Cables Be Replaced? 524
Jyms writes "As technology changes, so hubs routers and switches are upgraded, but does the cabling need replacing, and if so, how often? Coax gave way to CAT 5 and CAT 5e replaced that. If you are running a 100Mbit/s network on old CAT 5, can that affect performance? Do CAT 5(e) cables get old?"
Re:On a practical level . . . (Score:3, Interesting)
Copper vs New Materials (Score:4, Interesting)
I kind of took this article more to be suggesting that we should be looking at newer data transmission technologies and materials - not so much continuing in a line, all involving copper.
There are some recent reports released stating that *really* common elements used in technology are about to become exhausted resources - most in the next 10 years, but some as soon as 4 years from now.
For instance, at our current rate of consumption, Indium will be exhausted in four years. Indium is used for current generation LCD displays, among other things.
Gold and copper are in the same boat. The US already has closed down most of its gold mines, and all of its copper mines because they're not economically viable to mine for anymore. Predictions put gold and copper at exhausted in around 10 years.
And none of these projections take into account population growth or new technology demands. It's only at "current consumption rates".
In other words:
Should we be looking to upgrade cabling to fiber optics or other mediums for transmission of data, so that we can begin reclaiming copper to be used in more essential capacities?
Real question (Score:4, Interesting)
No.
If you're going to do anything, upgrade to fiber.
End point cabling (Score:2, Interesting)
Having a good supply of ~6' cables made up for end users who yank the connectors off or fold them over until the internal conductors break or cut them is a good idea, though. That tends to be where the most abuse is.
Re:Overkill... (Score:5, Interesting)
I have had all sorts of problems at work with my cabling.. All sorts of stuff worked great with the initial 10Mbt network. Now it is getting flaky at even 100MB, let alone gigabit. Occasionaly, we'll troubleshoot a wire, take off the faceplate at the wall, and find about 4-5 inches of unsheilded wired before its punched into its jack. Sometimes, its just one pair or two. I actually had a cable that someone made longer, by stripping the wires, twisting them together, and using MASKING tape to hold them together. That one was a treasure to find. Now, keep in mind, 80% of my cabling is awesome, and fully to spec. However, i'm guessing one of the guys working on the team that installed this cabling, long before I came, was of the "good enough" mentality, and its costing quite a bit to fix now.
Oh they often use high grade materials (Score:4, Interesting)
It isn't as though higher grade materials really cost that much more. There are better grades of the materials that go in to a cable. That is the difference between some cheap wire from a hardware store and something like, say, a professional Belden cable. However you'll discover that the cost difference between the two isn't a whole lot. Cheap RG-59 might run you $0.10/foot and Belden 1694A might run you $0.50/foot.
So yes, they'll often use good materials, because they don't come anywhere near the sales price. For $500 I imagine I could make you a Cat-5 cable using silver conductors if you wanted (silver wire isn't nearly as expensive as people seem to think).
The markup on "audiophile" cable is so insane they can afford to do things well.
Re:Overkill... (Score:5, Interesting)
That's what happens when ELECTRICIANS run your data cable.
We came in behind an electrician that had taken every cable in the wiring closet, stripped the shielding off to about 1 foot from the wall, and neatly bundled each color of wire pairs together for about 100 cables. So we had a huge bundle of blue, then one of blue/white, then one of orange etc... pairs.
Same guy tried to run network jacks in serial the way you can do telephone cable or electrical.
Same guy would strip 4-6 inches of shielding off before punching down (incorrectly) at the jacks.
Electricians just see it as low voltage electrical. The master electrician running the crew might know the difference, but the apprentice who is actually doing the work has no clue.
So please, hire a real data wiring company to run your cables.
Re:Overkill... (Score:5, Interesting)
Whoever did your cabling was unqualified to do the work he was hired to do. (Usually the the fault of whoever hired them.)
I don't follow... When I get a quote from somebody who claims to be capably trained for certain task how is it my fault when he screws up? The long and short of it is that thousands of people every year get screwed over by trades people who claim skills they don't have (Some of the scamers are quite good at it too) and the blame lies mostly with these unscrupulous people.
Re:Overkill... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Overkill... (Score:3, Interesting)
Indeed.
I even run UTP up radio towers for stuff like IP cameras. The stuff works fine, even in a fucking sea of RFI, with 40 to 100 Watt transmitting antennas blasting it from a few feet away.
Stop worrying ... the questions answer themselves (Score:3, Interesting)
" ... If you are running a 100Mbit/s network on old CAT 5, can that affect performance? ..." ... Do CAT 5(e) cables get old? ..."
Yes.
"
Yes.
Questions you didn't ask:
Q: Are old cables bad cables? A: By themselves, no. CAT 5 is made of high quality copper with a PTFE (Teflon) dielectric and protected by a reasonably robust PVC jacket that is rated for in-wall use, a high specification to begin with. They are essentially made of materials selected from the list of the best appropriate materials generally used for any cable need, and better than most of the cable in your home, your car, etc
Q: Does it degrade slowly over time? A: Yes, in the sense that everything does, and no in the sense that either it's broken or it's not broken.
Q: How will I know if it's broken? A: It won't work, and that includes intermittently not working.
Q: Can cables break? A: Yes. If they do, replace or repair them.
Q: Should I replace my Cat5 cables with Cat6? A: Probably not.
Q: Is the shininess and newness of my cables the most important part? A: No, the shininess and newness is relatively unimportant. The corrosionlessness and unbrokenness is fairly important, as is the competenceness of the installer, the appropriateness of the grade of original cabling and connectors, and the qualityness of any work by the installer.
Q: Is it easy to screw up a Cat5/5e/6 installation. A: Yes. Having said all that, CatX cable is remarkably resilient and amazingly tolerant of pathetic, shoddy and downright incompetent installation. Take comfort in that.
Q: What if I'm not getting the speed I should be from my network? A: Test the cables for integrity, and if you find you need to replace all the cabling, start on page one and decide what to replace it with and what your future needs will be. Keep in mind the goal is "future interconnection" and not "replace the Cat5 with Cat6" (even though that might be the proper conclusion). Whatever your answers, install it all at the same time.
Re:Copper vs New Materials (Score:3, Interesting)
Thankfully aluminum is still pretty far away on the "exhaustability" spectrum, and aluminum is also pretty easy to reclaim from wastes. Copper is something we put deep in the earth and wind into tiny knots on circuit boards. Reclaiming it is a slightly more complex task.
In terms of the relevance to this article, I'd suggest that if anyone is upgrading their infrastructure to be current with technology, upgrade to fiber. It shows you're willing to make the transition to a new technology and you'll be prepared when the resources become scarce. And honestly, if someone's upgrading from Cat5 to Cat5e or Cat6... well, it's very rare anyone actually needs that. You might as well make a real upgrade, instead of changing equipment over to better shielded, better constructed, higher tested... same material lines.
There aren't many places in the world that actually utilize Cat6 (or fully utilize Cat5e) in their places of business, and in most of those places, you're better off using fiber anyway.
Be technology conscious.
Be environmentally conscious.
Re:Cat6 (Score:3, Interesting)
Ah, I see we have another NCSU Alum from the Great Squirrel Power Outage of '90 (maybe 91?) "We know it was a squirrel due to the carbonized foot and tail left on the bus bar." Killed power to the entire main campus for most of the day.
Re:More things to look out for.... (Score:4, Interesting)
I've found Cisco kit to often try to be "too clever" when autonegotiating, and do a job far worse than a $30 unmanaged workgroup switch. Fortunately, (as you did) you can turn off autonegotiation. The only time we've had speed negotiation problems, it's been with enormously expensive Cisco switches.
Re:So I got a new sink..... (Score:3, Interesting)
Found the link to Amazon for that thing somewhere in this thread. Some reviews are simply hilarious =)
http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AKDL1-Dedicated-Link-Cable/product-reviews/B000I1X6PM/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 [amazon.com]