Fiber only between buildings!

[pactech]

The other day I went out to troubleshoot a network cable that was not working. Someone had installed a Cat 5e tie wrapped to a support cable between two buildings and attached it to an electrical pole midway. There had been a thunderstorm a few days earlier and apparently blew out the entire switch in the second building and only 1 port in the first building. I think using fiber almost eliminates issues like this.

[copparedds]

fiber is be too expensive to be utilized in such a way.

[Blues]

We use a fiber between buildings here but mainly becuase we have a backup of our production box on the other end of our lot and they do live back up so we can do a roll over should the primary fail. Besides that I don't think we would have bothered as your right its not worth installing and buying the switches needed.

[thecoldone06]

Can you bury the cable in conduit? That would solve your lightning issues and I wouldn't think stringing Cat 5 across electrical poles would be a very good idea to begin with. Not to mention the fact that the electric company might not appreciate the cable being attached to their pole.

[ProTech Support]

Originally Posted by thecoldone06

Not to mention the fact that the electric company might not appreciate the cable being attached to their pole.

When I read the op's post, that was the first thing I thought. Are you even legally allowed to do that? To me, that is like running an extension cord across another companies parking lot...obviously that is going to create an issue.