One of the most essential aspects of our modern technological world is cabling. Though it might seem like an easy thing to deal with on paper, it can wind up being quite difficult to manage when you get to real world applications.
There are plenty of common issues when it comes to network cabling. Knowing how to identify and navigate those issues can come in handy whether it be for home or business setups.
Failure to Plan
Before you can worry about actual cable management, you need to have a plan going into the situation. When you start just plugging cables in, it doesn’t take long before everything is mismanaged and disorganized. When that happens, it is only a matter of time before things start getting mixed up and contribute to poor performance.
Plan out your cable setup before you even purchase the first cable. This way, you can ensure that you have everything secure and in place from the first go. Even in home setups, cables that are left hanging in a hodgepodge way become tripping and fire hazards, among other things.
No Cable Management
One of the simplest issues that people have when it comes to cable management is not having a plan to begin with. But before you go out and grab network cables from a vendor like RS, it helps to have a plan. Keeping all of our devices connected can seem simple given how easy things have become in this day and age, but a bad cabling setup can wind up causing issues.
Label all of your cables and organize them in a way that they can be accessed easily. Home setups usually just bundle wires together. Business setups mean having racks or other devices to manage everything. Keeping that cabling neat and organized means not only being able to make changes quickly but will help to avoid potential issues as well.
Keep Distance in Mind
One of the key factors when it comes to connecting to the internet is distance. For most residences, wireless connections reign supreme because they are easily capable of covering distances of 150-300 feet without much issue. But when it comes to businesses and industrial setups, there is a need to cover greater distances without signal quality or interruptions. Certain types of cabling are great at covering long distances – miles at a time – with no quality degradation.
For instance, fiber optic cabling is great for not only large-scale data transfer but also for covering distances of up to six miles. For larger businesses, where connections between multiple sites are a necessity, that cabling is the link between connectivity and reliability. Failing to plan ahead for distance can create a plethora of issues that will not be easy to remedy or resolve.
Even in residential setups, a wired connection may be preferable because of the potential impact that interference can have on data transfer. Cat6 cabling, for example, might be an ideal solution.
Be Mindful of Interference
Interference is one of the biggest challenges to internet connections and cabling. For that reason, choosing the right type of cabling is key. Some are better suited than others to stand up against electromagnetic interference and other issues that could degrade signal and data transfer quality. It is also important to consider the environment in which you plan on installing that cable.
Those interference factors can wind up playing havoc on your ability to connect devices. Streaming and sensitive data transfer are a regular part of life these days. Any interruption to those connections can wind up creating major issues and interrupt daily business services.
