You may have noticed that networking problems can be elusive and frustrating – causing small business owners to lose valuable time and productivity, as well as sleep!  Luckily, many networking problems have easily addressable fixes, and some are very common.

One of the most common problems can be solved with a new cable or connector – if intermittent or dropped communications are happening, check the wiring with a cable connector to see if a short or connector problem exists.    Dust on fiber optic connectors can also cause problems by interfering with light transmission.

Another common problem manifests as slow connectivity due to a jabbering network card transferring lots of useless data.   Check to see if the transmit light is always on to see if a card internal to a PC or laptop is jabbering.  This happens when the card is stuck in the transmit mode – and the fix is to swap out cards.

When configuration changes are made or new pieces of equipment are added to the network, equipment set up mistakes, DNS configuration errors, WINS configuration errors or other configuration problems can result – causing network issues.   It also pays to look at router tables to see if duplicate IP addresses exist, which can cause slow or intermittent connectivity.

Wireless networking problems can be even more elusive than all this.  If you suddenly notice that your connection has slowed down and you are moving – stop.  Usually you have wandered too far away from your router and signal strength is low.  Another reason is that too many people are trying to connect to your network at once.  Many small companies don’t believe in setting up a WEP or WPA key to protect their networks, and usurpers find ways to steal bandwidth and connections run slow.  Don’t let this happen to you!  Protect your network and vital bandwidth as soon as possible.

Other issues to look for with wireless networks include interference from cordless phones, microwaves and other wireless networks in the vicinity.   Dead spots can also be an issue, and can be remedied by using a range extender or repeater if moving your router doesn’t work.

When all else fails and your troubleshooting efforts have not worked, calling in professionals with superior equipment is the right thing to do.  The right network cabling installers have the right people, the right troubleshooting tools, and the right prices for any job you may need help with.

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In mission critical as well as secure network applications, fiber optic cabling forms the infrastructure of choice – with superior transmission line and noise cancelling performance over that of traditional copper cable.

We all know how signals travel over copper – but how does fiber optic cable work?  The main reason for its superior performance is that it converts the signals being carried into light before transmission, and converts them back again on the other end.

Fiber optic cables are very thin glass wires (some are made of plastic) that are arranged in bundles or optical cables.  Each fiber has a core or thin center where the light is carried, a cladding that reflects the light back into the core, and an outside coating called a “buffer” that protects the fiber from damage.

Each bundle is again protected by an outer coating, called a “jacket”.

The light signal can travel at longer distances than electrical signals can travel over copper, as it bounces back and forth from the cladding which is reflective and doesn’t absorb any light.   The only thing that degrades the signal as it travels is impurities in the glass (or plastic), which is why it is a good idea to use high quality cabling if using fiber optics for long runs.

The light is sent across the cable using a transmitter, which is usually a laser or LED that is placed very close to the fiber.  On the other end, a photodiode receiver detects the light signal, decodes it, and turns it back into an electrical signal that can be read by a computer or piece of networking equipment.

Fiber optic cabling is thinner than copper wire, and can be run in tighter places than copper.  It also uses less power, so is “greener”.

Because these cables are thinner, more of them can be bundled together to increase the overall carrying capacity, making fiber optics a great choice for service providers such as AT&T Uverse with an IPTV offering.

Fiber optics are also very flexible, which is why they are used in medical imaging where they must bend in order to get good pictures of internal organs.   Because glass doesn’t emit electromagnetic energy that can be “sniffed”, fiber optic cabling is also much more secure than traditional copper in network cabling.

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A large expense faced by any company with a direct sales force is cell phone service.  Many plans still charge by the minute overall, or if there are any overages from included plan minutes.  This motivates business owners to find solutions for containing the overall minutes used.

One new gadget that promises to do so is a dual mode cell phone/WiFi phone that switches to a WiFi network when one is available.  WiFi networks within your company walls are free, meaning cellular minutes used can dramatically decline.

Today, dual mode phones are available from companies like Linksys, Nokia, and D-Link.   T-Mobile offers service that includes both cellular coverage and wireless hot spot access to accommodate such phones.   Data access is also made more readily available on such dual enabled phones, allowing users to listen to streaming broadcasts as well.

What’s the downside?  WiFi technology is not really designed to allow true mobility.   When on the WiFi network, there will be handoffs from access point to access point as the user moves around.   There will also be handoffs from the cellular network to the WiFi network and back that can cause calls to drop.   This can create some issues with business communications, imagine a dropped call as a customer is detailing his multi-million dollar order!

The good news is that lots of work is being put into making these handoffs more seamless and transparent to the user.   This means the future of dual mode phones is quite bright.

In the meantime, this may be a great idea for sales people who spent at least some of their day in an office equipped with WiFi, as calls during this part of the day will be free.

Taking advantage of this new technology means having a robust internal WiFi network with few dead spots and strategically positioned access points so that dropped calls are few and far between.   And these access points should be based on a robust and well planning internal network with a strong wired foundation, based on at least cat 5e cabling.

If your internal networks are ready for an overhaul so you can add these phones to your internal IT structure, why not call professional network cabling experts?  The right professionals will be happy to analyze your network and make concrete recommendations for enhancements that will move you into today’s world.   They can provide a network assessment and upgrade, and then help you choose the best dual mode phones for your team now and in the future.

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Now more than ever before, businesses and their overall efficiency are dependent on the quality of Internet, voice, and video service their chosen provider can supply.  This makes the choice of service provider one that can make or break a small or medium business in today’s economic climate.

Making this situation even more complex is the wide variety and number of providers available that claim to be able to support anything, anywhere!  Where is the truth to these claims?  How can they be validated?

Regional, national, and international service providers can be found that offer anything from WiMax (great for remote areas with no infrastructure), DSL (good for very small businesses with 2-5 employees), to full T1s that can service a larger facility.

If you plan to deploy an IP phone infrastructure, it is best to choose at least a cable modem 6MB minimum service or a T1. DSL is not usually able to support VoIP (voice-over-IP) telephony, which has a huge cost and service benefit for all levels and sizes for business.

It also makes sense to ask any company vying for your business for at least three references from companies that are as close as possible to your size and number of employees.

Sometimes, the constraints of your building may dictate the service provider you must choose.  In some areas of the world, building owners have made “deals” with service providers that preclude other choices.  If you are caught into one of these situations, WiMax (wireless broadband) becomes a possibility as it is usually not covered by other contracts.   If your area isn’t covered by WiMax either, then you have the unfortunate choice between moving or using the only service provider offered.

Thankfully, the issue most businesses face is too many, rather than too few choices.   Many service providers, faced with user churn because there are so many choices for their customers, offer attractive promo deals to potential customers. Be sure to look beyond the immediate benefits of the “deal” to find the best overall package for you and your company.

The best choice for your company will be the provider that offers the bandwidth PLUS SLA (service level agreement) that fits your needs.  Remember, bandwidth alone is not enough to ensure clear Internet connections, you also must be wary of oversubscription. If there are too many users of the same “pipe”, delays can result.  This may not be serious if you don’t plan to deploy VoIP (voice-over-IP), but can still cause delays in video or file downloads that can be irritating to your employees.

If you want expert advice on whom to choose, why not call network cabling installers?  Professionals will assess your unique situation and draw from a wide knowledge bank to recommend the service provider that will meet your needs most cost effectively.

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Innovation marches on, and wire and cable technology is yet another area where the “latest and greatest” can be found on Google via a simple search.  The newest type of Ethernet cable is cat 7, or category 7 cabling.

Cat 7 cable was designed to handle 10 Gigabit Ethernet traffic over 100 m of copper cabling.  As such, it has much stricter standards for crosstalk and systems noise that cat 5e or cat 6.   It contains four twisted wire copper pairs just like cat 5e and cat 6 cabling, but each pair is individually shielded to achieve these standards.

It is important to note that no cat 7 cable types are officially “approved” at this time, so if having the blessing of a standards body is important to you or your business, it is best to stick with “tried and true” cat 5e cabling unless you have very large files you need to transfer very quickly.

Also, cat 7 cabling is designed for 10G traffic which most small and medium businesses don’t necessary need now.  This doesn’t mean that the evolution of the Internet won’t change this in the future, but the good news is that cat 7 is compatible with cat 5e and cat 6.  All three types of cabling can coexist in the same network, which means you can upgrade the sections of your network that require it in the future while leaving your older cat 5e and cat 6 cable in place.

But if you, like Robert Bosch corporation, want your network to still be current 18 years in the future – then cat 7 cabling may be worth it for you.   Robert Bosch also opted for TERA connectors instead of RJ-45 to extend the overall capabilities and frequency range of this “state-of-the-art” infrastructure.

Whatever your cabling or infrastructure needs, network cabling installers are there to help!  The professionals will take an in-depth look at your business model and make well-considered recommendations for your current and future needs.   Call professional network cabling installers today to start moving your network in the right direction!

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Joe Small Business Owner rushes out to buy the latest and greatest servers, printers, and wireless access points for his company – spending lots of capital in the process.  Yet when it comes to his inside wiring, he just runs another used cat 5 wire he got from eBay or Craig’s List across the floor or over a cabinet and thinks he is saving money. What’s wrong with this picture?

For starters, “rat’s nest wiring” can create many problems that get blamed on the shiny new equipment – such as poor performance and interference.   Running wires too close to fluorescent lighting can also cause interference that shows up as slow data or voice connections.   And who knows what is actually INSIDE those walls!

Wires with frayed shielding in the walls can cause increased vulnerability to interference too, and this can be an elusive problem that usually gets blamed on equipment misconfiguration.    Damaged media or wiring inside the walls can lead to intermittent dropped connections, which is very annoying when using VoIP (voice-over-IP) telephone systems as key parts of calls may be dropped.

Poor termination of Ethernet cabling or fiber optic cabling can lead to a whole host of problems that can plague your business’s mission critical activities in many ways.  And using old wiring such as cat 3 while trying to handle streaming media is another mistake made by many – it is older media and directly analogous to trying to fit an entire pitcher of lemonade into a thimble.

What’s a business owner to do?  Call experienced network cabling installers to come and do a comprehensive evaluation of not only the cabling you can see, but also what you can’t see.  Professional installers use the latest wire integrity evaluation equipment on the market to test for compromised shielding, improper termination, or damaged media that may be wreaking havoc on your business communications.  And they will only recommend that wiring be upgraded if it really needs to be – no need to worry about upgraded wiring being recommended just because someone wants a trip to Tahiti.

Business communications are critical to your very growth – and survival in this economic climate.  Running top notch “state-of-the-art” IT equipment over faulty wiring is like driving a Porsche in off road conditions; you just wouldn’t do it. Professional installers will identify any wiring issues, and also any potential interference issues and either reroute wiring or use a media type that is not susceptible to interference.

No matter what the professionals find, they will keep your needs and your budget in mind at all times throughout the process.   No nasty surprises at the end of the job, and no more compromised communications.  Why wait, call professional network cabling installers today!

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There has never been a more exciting time to be involved with IT or technology itself – as innovation is everywhere.  Many new changes are disruptive in nature, and promise to change the way we work, play and live in positive ways. A few of these breakthroughs include Telepresence, and 4G wireless technologies such as LTE and WiMax.

Why is Telepresence disruptive?  It promises to change the way we conduct business by taking all the ills brought by videoconferencing and addressing them, so that the illusion of a face-to-face meeting is preserved real time.   In turn, the need for travel is minimized  which saves millions of dollars for many corporations while reducing the overall carbon footprint – allowing businesses to position themselves as “green” in the marketplace.

Telepresence adoption rates are growing rapidly as new applications for the technology are discovered, such as high end virtual fitting rooms and showrooms in the retail world and virtual medical consulting for shut-in patients.

4G wireless technology is disruptive as it provides a true merging of the cellular and wireless data worlds – allowing full data capabilities to be enjoyed over smart phones and enabling a whole host of mobile devices that are smaller than a laptop yet bigger than a mobile phone. This allows us to remain connected no matter where we are, yet untethered.

New 4G technologies promise to address the dropped calls we all experience on existing cell networks as well, and will allow increased subscriber densities too.   Most importantly, with 4G technology, we will actually be able to download data files using our mobile phones without it seeming to take hours.  Critical files can be downloaded on our smart phones anywhere, and later transferred to netbooks or laptops for modifications if needed. Web browsing will be much faster, and real time video gaming over mobile phones will be enabled for the first time.

These trends and many others will continue to shape our world in the foreseeable future.   Watch for holographic telepresence systems and even faster mobile networks to arrive within the next 5 to 10 years.

Keep in mind that when in need of professional data installation services or structured wiring, it is absolutely essential that you hire experienced network cabling installers, for all of your IT infrastructure needs.

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The standardly used wiring for both home and company networks is twisted pair – twisting the wires cancels out electromagnetic interference effects and improves SNR or signal-to-noise ratio.  Because cat 5, cat5e and cat6 wiring are all twisted pair wiring types, there are special handling requirements that apply.

First of all, try not to twist the cable as you install it.  This can cause fragile internal wiring to split or break, and can degrade the insulation.  When running twisted pair cabling, try to use gentle curves rather than sharp angles which can degrade performance.  It also makes sense when using UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cabling to install wires a safe distance away from any other wiring, and especially from fluorescent lighting.

To maximize performance and minimize latency, use as short of a cable run as you possibly can get away with using.  In any event, never use more than 100 meters of cabling.   Pulling two wires per “drop” (room, or area needing a connection) provides redundancy, which means you have a spare should one of the wires become degraded.   Using two boxes of wiring makes this easier to do.  Position your patch panel or hub in a central location such that each wire run is minimized.

If you nick a cable – don’t just let it go and think it will be OK. It won’t be over time.  Degradation in performance is easy to achieve at Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet speeds.  Discard or recycle this cable and pull a new one, to be safe.  If you start with the longest runs first, if you nick a long wire, you can cut some of it off and still have enough for a shorter run.

It goes without saying that labeling each wire as soon as you pull it makes it easier to remember where it goes!  Use colored tape, and mark the same colors on the RJ45 sockets you place the wire terminations into.   Try to minimize the untwisting you do at the ends and connections when terminating the wires.   Test the wiring with a high quality tester – lower quality testers do not detect “split pairs” or stress test wiring at high bit rates.

Pulling low voltage twisted pair cabling does take time and practice – if the infrastructure you are considering pulling is mission critical, it makes sense to leave it to professionals.   Call experienced network cabling installers a cost-effective, thorough and professional job that you can count on for future as well as current infrastructure needs.

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For the last several years, technical magazines and blogs have heralded the arrival of the “smart home” as a goal for those of us who pride ourselves on being on the cutting edge.   Is the “smart home” really available for the common household to attain? What is it, really?

For starters, a smart home doesn’t have to resemble a Sci Fi flick or the home of the cartoon characters “The Jetsons” from the 60s.  With properly installed infrastructure, a “smart” home can look as “dumb” as a log cabin – until you uncover its secrets.

Today’s smart home IS a reality, and has a combination of both wired and wireless networking components – wireless access points to connect gaming stations, security cameras and laptops to the web, and wired connections for mission critical components such as computers that use streaming video, smart TV boxes or gaming platforms such as the PS3 that connect to Netflix, and VoIP telephones or ATA (analog telephone adapters).

Given the demands placed on the network infrastructure, a minimum of 6MB of Internet bandwidth is essential.  Luckily, this is not difficult in today’s environment. Many major cities actually offer up to 12MB to residential customers at a reasonable price.

Smart homes can combine a wide variety of features and benefits, which can include integrated TV-telephone and internet which allows viewing of Caller ID on the TV or retrieval of messages or recorded TV shows from the Internet, control of appliances or lights over a web-based control system, streaming “on-demand”  movies over the Internet straight to your TV, automated reporting of security issues over the Internet to local authorities or fire departments, and automated power usage reporting to help control costs.   Some smart homes, although few at this stage, also have robots programmed into the infrastructure to help with household chores such as sweeping, mowing the lawn, and even getting things from the fridge!  The company that makes the Roomba vacuum offers an open source kit for designing such a customized robot as part of your personalized smart home.

The wired part of a smart home’s infrastructure should be sound, scalable to support future upgrades, and invisible to guests or animals that could trip over loose wiring.   It is best to use the latest technology wire such as cat 6 or cat6e also, as future requirements may make cat 5 cable obsolete.  Doing it yourself may be fun, but in the long run, it is best to hire a professional team that is familiar with the latest low voltage code standards to handle these tasks.  Make sure you hire network cabling installers that will wire your smart home to YOUR needs.

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One way of running a small business or home network with no new wires is by moving to a powerline networking scheme, which has been the subject of much study and interest due to its simplicity.  However appealing this simple scheme may be, it is not suitable for all networks and does have its pros and cons.

The pros of this technology are obvious – most rooms have multiple electrical outlets so there is no need to run new wires or add additional terminations; printers now no longer have to be located near computers; the newest power line technology called PowerPacket runs at 14MBps so it is quite fast compared to earlier power line networking; and kits to install this technology are inexpensive (around $50-100 is all that is needed).  Companies like Cisco and Netgear offer off-the-shelf power line networking switches and routers that are very cost-effective and easily installed.

This technology does have its cons, however, which is why it is not more popular than wireless technology today.  Although chip manufacturers claim that their chips circumvent this problem, users of the technology say that network performance varies with electrical usage.  This means you could have difficulty downloading a large file while running your dishwasher, for instance.   Quality of electrical wiring varies from home to home and business to business – and some older buildings have very poor wiring.  If you are in an older building, it is probably best to run some new cat 6 or cat 6e Ethernet cabling and call it a day.

Also, the adapter you need to plug in to run a home powerline network cannot be plugged into a surge protector, which may be inconvenient in some cases.   Plus 14Mbps is not nearly enough bandwidth to allow video streaming or a good quality VoIP phone system to run properly.

If you have a simple one or two man office that doesn’t require streaming media usage or large file downloads and want to minimize wiring changes and expense, then powerline networking may be the way to go.  It also may be a good supplement to an existing network in hard to wire zones such as warehouses or garages where the Internet is only used for data entry and to look up the number for your local pizza delivery guy.

But for most modern businesses and state-of-the-art smart homes, this technology still has some growing up to do!

If you would like a professional consultation on the suitability of powerline networking for your home or business needs, contact experienced network cabling installers. Their professionals will do a comprehensive assessment of your unique situation, and recommend the most cost-effective technology solution available.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention our Network Cabling website as the original source).