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The Importance of an Ethernet Cable Tester

By Michael Stones

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 03Feb2012 Word count: 549 Viewed: 50 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

An Ethernet cable tester is used to verify that network cabling has been installed correctly. An Ethernet tester should be used in all cases where new cabling has been installed in an office/plant environment. The need for certification of copper and fiber cabling is achieved through a series of tests outlined by the TIA or the ISO standards. The Ethernet cable tester will provide Pass/Fail information on many different tests on the cable itself. The certification of cables is primarily done by the telecom contractor. This allows the telecom contractor to warranty their work.

A Few of the Parameters that are Tested For:

-Wiremap

-Propagation Delay

-Delay Skew

-Cable Length

-Insertion Loss (IL)

-Return Loss (RL)

-Near-End Crosstalk (NEXT)

-Power Sum NEXT (PSNEXT)

-Equal-Level Far-End Crosstalk (ELFEXT)

-Power Sum ELFEXT (PSELFEXT)

-Attenuation-to-Crosstalk Ratio (ACR)

-Power sum ACR (PSACR)

-DC Loop Resistance

By the time a cable install has been performed many hands have touched the connections for the cables. There are connections at the workstation outlet which are usually in the form of a data jack. There are connections at the other end of the Station cable within the Telecom room which is usually done on a termination panel within the data rack. Then there are the patch cords that are connected from the termination panel to the network switches and on the workstation side patch cords are plugged in from the wall outlet into the computer or network device itself. Sometimes there are mid spans which run up the number of connectors within a single cable run. The importance of the network cable tester as you can see is very important because there are many points of failure. Without a cable tester is almost an impossible task. Cabling technicians and network engineers are human. They will make mistakes patching, labeling and terminating cable. You will be lucky to have issues with 5% or less of the cabling plant. This troubleshooting can be very, very time-consuming if you do not have a decent Ethernet cable tester.

The cable tester is important to both the client and the contractor. On the client side, they want to know that all the cables were installed correctly. They are paying a lot of money for a network cable installation and will count on it to run their business for many years to come. On the contractor side you must have these cable test results to verify your work and obtain a warranty from the cable manufacturer.

In conclusion a cable tester is a must for any mid to large-size cabling contractor. You must be able to verify your work to both the cable manufacturer and the client. An Ethernet tester is the tool that can do this for you. It will also provide neatly organize test results but can be sent via e-mail to the client for their satisfaction and yours. Do your homework online and choose a cable tester that seems the best fit for your organization. This will be a worthwhile investment for many years to come.

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