Making CAT5e Cables or Purchase OEM

C

Carlosinfl

Loves the juice
Joined
Sep 25, 2002
Messages
6,633
I was talking to out network guy in another building who is amazing at Cisco and we told me something I found to sound odd. I explained I make all my CAT5e cables rather than purchasing OEM premade cables. Sure they look a little nicer but we have so much cable and I don't mind making them.

He explained that they don't last as long or transfer data as well when you make them by hand.

Can anyone please clearify if I should be concerned about making my own cable. Now obviously if I make them crappy or sloppy, they are going to suck and eventually not work but lets say they are decent and work...should I disreguard that statement?
 
As long as you do quality work you have nothing the worry about. Problems start to occur when you do a poor crimping job, not getting enough of the plenum (outside covering of the cable) because then things like mold and moisture can start accumulating inside the head and cause problems.

Every cable in the building I work was done by hand (routers, switches, servers, over 100 desktops). We've only had 1 problem with a cable being bad and it was found to be poorly crimped on one end.
 
If you make them right and use the porper ends for the cable type they're just fine.
 
I think it really depends on if you have anything better to do. We get our cables very cheap and it is simply not cost effective to have people who make the calbes. when you consider the salary we are paying some of our techs.

Ofcourse I am sitting at work typing this.... which is not very cost effective either....
 
He's probably basing his opinion based on experience...and based on my experience...I'd agree with him. It does seem that if I walk into supporting a network that has home-made cables...I'm more likely to have network related issues, compared to a job where there's factory made cables.

I'd say the greater majority of "home whipped" cables aren't 100% up to snuff.. == poorly done.

I don't like to take the time of making them...they take too long, they're so danged cheap, why bother?
 
I buy all of mine premade. When it costs $136 shipped for over 1000' of CAT5E, pre-crimped, booted, and colored how I want it, why wouldn't you do premade?
 
Depends on the use really. Handmade = fine for non-critical stuff, but do you really want to answer to the boss when your cable makes the primary server go tits up?
 
For me it depends on a few factors....

1) How many I need
2) How soon do I need them
3) How neat do I need to be


Generally for variable length runs (PCs to the wall outlet) I don't have a problem rolling my own cables. I use boots though, just so the end users don't snap off the tabs too easily.

For patch cables, bulk necessity i always order premade. I like to keep things color coordinated and uniform.

How's it gonna look when your patch panels look like a jumbled angry fruit salad?
 
Here is another thread where this was discussed

I used to make my own cables and got really good at it. Several people would tell me mine looked pre-made. That being said after time I would notice that even the best made ones would eventually slip the jacket out and expose the twisted pairs if they were stressed enough.

There is nothing worse than troubleshooting a problem and then discovering that your own cable was at fault.

Buying premade certified cables is well worth the "peace of mind" insurance for knowing that that is one less aspect I have to monitor in the normal day-to-day of business.
 
At my current job, we make all our own cables. Our department has to be very budget conscious, and as often as we're installing new PCs or moving them (thus requiring a shorter or longer cable) it would get very costly to buy them.

If I had my way, we'd be buying most of our cables. There's a lot to be said for cables made by a company that specializes in it; they generally test them with equipment far better than what I have available and good onces at least pay lip service to having a warranty. It's nice knowing I can just replace a cable and send it back when it's bad.

Of course, that doesn't protect against vacuum cleaners and braindead custodians...
 
Niartov said:
I think it really depends on if you have anything better to do. We get our cables very cheap and it is simply not cost effective to have people who make the calbes. when you consider the salary we are paying some of our techs.

Ofcourse I am sitting at work typing this.... which is not very cost effective either....
Click to expand...

Pretty much how I look at it. For the most part we buy all of our cables. It is more cost effective then us sitting there making them. I do keep a spool in the trunk though in case I need to make a longer cable or something special. Pretty much I just get a spool that has a 100 feet or so left that are cables guys are not going to use. Soon as I kill it I get another. I maybe make 5 or 6 cables a month now. When I use to work for th county we made pretty much ever last one. In a given month I may have made a few hundred easy.
 
Dew said:
I buy all of mine premade. When it costs $136 shipped for over 1000' of CAT5E, pre-crimped, booted, and colored how I want it, why wouldn't you do premade?
Click to expand...

would you mind sharing your source? :D I'm always looking for good cable deals.
 
I use to just order a bunch of network cables from cyberguys as they seemed to have a ok price on them and have a bunch of other random shit that I like to order(like case screws). You just gotta be careful as some of the things they sell are really overpriced.

monoprice seems to be a real good place to order stuff as well. Never used them but people around these forums seem to like them. We have this place called norfolk wiring in town that we have a business account with that has pretty good prices on stuff. I can walk in to the store and get like a 15 foot usb cable for 7 bucks, 6 foot hdmi for like 18, etc. I'm not the one that picks up the network cables from them but them are very reasonable. That 15 foot cable would be like 40 bucks at compusa/bb/officemax. Sure I could find it less but hell with shipping and all getting it for 7 bucks with no wait just seems like a good deal to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top