I remember arguing with cabling crews about that exact issue: ME: I want to have the RJ-45 connector crimped on the cable for two reasons: -It saves money (on one jack and one patch cable, that’s about $10 per AP) -It prevents patch cable theft (not huge but very annoying especially in Residence Halls)
CABLING CREW: we want to terminate on a jack because: -It is a pain to terminate a RJ-45 connector on the cable (unless new connector designs exist) and the money saved in equipment is wasted in labor -We cannot properly label the circuit on a cable but we can do it on a jack In the end, they won the argument. Some may argue that terminating on a Jack also gives the option to add a longer patch cable if needed, but we always left a service loop anyway! Philippe Hanset www.eduroam.us > On May 14, 2015, at 1:05 PM, Mark H. Wehrle <[email protected]> wrote: > > Good afternoon all, > > We are faced with some challenges in upgrading our access points in our > residence halls this summer. Our existing installation has access points wall > mounted and we terminate Cat5E cable on a Cat5E type biscuit jack on the wall > near where the access point is mounted. From there we place a short cable > from the jack to the access point. In current state, this makes for easier > troubleshooting to decipher cable versus AP problems, however it's understood > that there could be other problems associated with multiple termination > points etc. In our current project, we are looking install access points with > internal antennas and we are looking to move these to ceiling mounts in > most/all of these rooms where we can. We made this choice because we've found > that some students will vary the positions of antennas, which have impacted > RF coverage and we have added more access points in some areas to compensate > (we cannot easily get into student rooms to inspect access points). > > The question I was asked before we move these jacks is whether we should save > costs and time by just making a field termination of the Cat5E cable with an > RJ45 connector crimped right on the cable then plug this cable directly into > the access point and avoid the biscuit jack and short station cable. I'm > wondering if anyone is doing this, was doing this and stopped, plans to do > this etc? Does this present any problems like bad mechanical connection > problems etc? > > Thanks for your feedback. > > --Mark Wehrle Phone: (215) 898-9664 > Technical Director, ISC Network & Telecom Operations Fax: (215) > 898-9348 > University of Pennsylvania > 3401 Walnut Suite 221a > Email:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Phila. PA 19104-6228 > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
