Cut Cabling

[Geoff]

We're planning to move office, there's one rather large snag however. The previous occupant in a fit of malice decided to cut all of the electrical, telephony and data cabling before they left. The power and telephony have obviously been fixed at the landlord/service providers expense however fixing the internal network cabling has fallen to us. On cursory inspection the situation doesn't look too bad, The cables all come into one room and have been cut where they come under the floor into the room (presumably where the comms cabinet was). There's no extra play in the cabling so I can't simply pull more length in. What is the most cost effective way to fix this? Our current comms contractor wants to recable the entire building at considerable cost.

[Dos_Box]

Whilst I have no doubt that there is a way to patch (no pun intended) snipped cables inline, I would suggest that it probably wouldn't do the signal quality any favours. It may be best for a complete re-wiring tbh.

[AngryTechnician]

Wire up 2 sets patch panels under the floor, one set to terminate the old cabling, and another set to terminate your new extensions. Then connect the two together with patch cables.

 

It won't be pretty, but it should work and it will be relatively cheap. If you have (or can rent) a high-end cable tester it will be able to verify if the cabling is still up to standard with the extra patches.

Edited November 22, 2012 by AngryTechnician

[plexer]

I hate joining cables but our contractor will do it where required and as long as it's tested and passed it'll be ok.

 

Ben

[tech_guy]

It's a shame they didn't fry themselves when they cut the electrics then....

[glennda]

We're planning to move office, there's one rather large snag however. The previous occupant in a fit of malice decided to cut all of the electrical, telephony and data cabling before they left. The power and telephony have obviously been fixed at the landlord/service providers expense however fixing the internal network cabling has fallen to us. On cursory inspection the situation doesn't look too bad, The cables all come into one room and have been cut where they come under the floor into the room (presumably where the comms cabinet was). There's no extra play in the cabling so I can't simply pull more length in. What is the most cost effective way to fix this? Our current comms contractor wants to recable the entire building at considerable cost.

 

Could the Comms cabinet be moved to where the cable is able to be pulled back to? Might end up sitting outside the comms room though.

[Geoff]

Could the Comms cabinet be moved to where the cable is able to be pulled back to? Might end up sitting outside the comms room though.

 

That location is not ideal for a 42U rack as it is a corridor.

[Guest Guest]

As said patch panels. Or if you want to be even tighter cat6 coupler - Google Search

[glennda]

That location is not ideal for a 42U rack as it is a corridor.

 

Thats a shame!

[sonofsanta]

The couplers work alright, just terminate the cut cables in a normal 8P8C connector and carry on from there. Not ideal, maybe, but they've worked alright here in the couple of places we've needed to move a socket 10m in the old part of the building.

[Andrew_C]

I'd go for these. Shouldn't degrade the signal at all, certainly less than two patch panels and leads.

 

In-line join

[AngryTechnician]

I've used those couplers too in the past, only reason I didn't recommend them first is I suspect there are a lot of cables and the patch might be more manageable.

[Geoff]

7 bundles of 22 cables.

[AngryTechnician]

I can see why you'd like to avoid a full recable!

[Ric_]

I would suggest coming to a deal with the landlord. If you use couplers, you will need 154 which is expensive and dodgy as hell. If you re-cable, it is expensive but you get nice new, certified, points.

 

I would suspect that you should give serious consideration to finding other premises as an option... and let the landlord know that fact.