Activating unused wiring

[Velvis]

I got a call to activate network jacks in an newly built but never used room.

A quick on site revealed a single blue cat 5 cable going into the room from the network closet.



After taking of the blank covers off. The box closest to the line coming into the room has a single blue cat 5 cable and 5 white cat 5 cables.

All of the other 4 jack locations have a single white cable coming out of them.

I only had a few minutes to take a peek do I wasnt able to do any wire tracing yet. The room also has a plaster ceiling (no drop tiles)

I am going back on site on Monday to trace the wires but I was wondering if this wiring is common place or what might be going on.

I'm assuming the 5 white cables coming into the jack closest to the network closet run to each of the other jacks in the room. But that doesn't really make any sense since a switch would have to be placed there to get the other jacks to work.

Why have so many cables come to a single wall jack?







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[mikeroq]

It's hard to guess from the outside but I could see a few scenarios.

A) The room is an office and they don't know where the desk will be going. So they ran drops to each wall. But they didn't want to run them all the way back to the network closet to save money (maybe).
Solution: Switch to activate all jacks, or short jumper from network closet jack to activate port of their choosing.

B) They need 4 drops in the room but wanted to save money (maybe).
Solution: Switch to activate all jacks.


Really the most costly part of installing a drop is running the cable. Two or three cables at the same time won't increase the labor much, and keystone jacks are cheap. Moving up to 4 or 5 might be another small bump in labor. Although cable cost can come into play. But if it's just Cat5e that should be pretty cheap. I try to advocate running two cables to the same drop when I do them. Allows for future expansion.

Now you say newly built but never used room. How long ago was it built? Maybe the blue drop to the network closet was ran previously or already existed in the area and was moved. Then later the white ones were installed.

Only reasons I could see not to run 4 drops to the network closet:

• Cable cost prohibitive. (Network closet far away?)
• Hard to run cable, easier to do just one cable vs four.
• Patch panel almost full, would have to add another patch panel (but these can be pretty cheap too so?)

Also surely you mean drywall ceiling and not plaster right?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Amature that doesn't know how to properly run ethernet. Thinks it works just like POTS phone lines and you can splice the cable. If it is a newly built room they probably need to get the "electrician" back out to do it properly. I wouldn't speculate about it. It's wrong and I wouldn't use it and you need to tell them why it is wrong and how to properly fix it. Quote them the cost to do the correct job. Its up to them to get money back from the guys who screwed it up.

 

[mikeroq]

OP didn't state the wires are spliced together. There is nothing wrong with terminating the cables and installing a switch.

 

[nlinecomputers]

I don't like dropping switches all over the place. You want to try and keep that to designated wire closets.

 

[Velvis]

OP didn't state the wires are spliced together. There is nothing wrong with terminating the cables and installing a switch.

They aren't spliced together like a phone line. But it seems like an odd place to pull 5 wires out of the wall and connect to a switch.

Well I will find out on Monday.

Also yes I mean a drywall ceiling.

Room was probably done in the last 5 years. it was an old building that was completely gutted.

Just seemed weird to me and wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking something.



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[Markverhyden]

Obviously toning will help. I agree with @nlinecomputers, poor work. Especially if it's solid surfaces everywhere. Nickel solution to the dime problem is stick a 5 port switch where the blue cable is so you can tie in the other drops assuming that is how they are run.

 

[nerd2u]

Did they happen to pull a pull string to each location?

I see it all the time in companies of all sizes they outgrow their setup and start dropping switches all over.

If there is a pull string from the server closet to the drop with all the cables in it you could pull new runs to the box then splice in each run to make dedicated home runs back to the server closet.

Not the way I would want to do it but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

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[Sky-Knight]

OP didn't state the wires are spliced together. There is nothing wrong with terminating the cables and installing a switch.

Oh yes there is...

Daisy chained switches are a blasted nightmare. Besides, you don't have a 10gb uplink, and 4-5 computers on a single gigabit pipe is too darned slow for my workloads. Not to mention the extra service calls because a power hickup locked up that tiny switch... screw that noise. It's under construction, wire it correctly now. Otherwise you're just enrolling your customer to lose money in the future in HR costs waiting on the stupid solution.

 

[nerd2u]

If you can it's always best to have a home run back to the MDF or IDF.

Small switches all over are a nightmare. I hate having to spend hours surveying sites because switches have been scattered all over.

Also creates the potential for network loops

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[Tech Savvy]

It’s possible that the 4 drops from the room to a place other than the network closet is where the modem USED to be. And after some remodeling they made the network closet, ran some more wires and poof! You have the situation you’re in now.

I agree with not putting little switches all over. It’s hacky. You can probably just run a replacement for all 4 cables at one time.


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[YeOldeStonecat]

Probably an example of network growth..done on the cheap.
Historically there was 1x drop run to that room, someone needed to add more ports in that room, instead of doing it properly and doing home runs back to the distro, they figured they'd do a "switch" to add more ports to the room. Not the ideal situation, but often it's enough.
There have been wall plates with built in switches...3COM used to make them. Neater than plopping a switch on the floor and having cables to step on.

For just internet access....and low bandwidth intensive applications, having 4 or 5 nodes share a single home run back to the distro isn't all too bad. But for many of todays heavier apps...4 or 5 nodes sharing a single gigabit run back to the network core can become a bottleneck. Gigabit uplinks are potential bottlenecks these days.

 

[Markverhyden]

Did they happen to pull a pull string to each location?

I gave up on that fantasy a long time ago. When I started to include wiring some 15 years ago the first couple of jobs, upgrades at a bunch of local UPS depots, had pull strings. I quickly learned that was not the norm but an anomaly, usually done by the installers from the LEC. I've been told by pretty much every electrician I deal with that they don't do pull strings. That cuts into future earning by reducing the time. Personally I do leave pull strings if it makes sense.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Future earning by reducing the time? Electricians charge by the drop, and the drop costs are fixed. Pull strings make them more money because the trades almost never bill based on time and materials anymore.

 

[nerd2u]

I always leave pull string I can't stand when I see a guy use the pull string that was left and not pull a new one

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