Tag Archive for Cable

| April 2, 2015
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How Sharks are Taking a Bite Out of the Internet

Sharks Attacking InternetPoliticians in Washington D.C. think that the Internet is made of tubes. Most other people think the modern Internet is made of cell phones and wireless connections. They have no idea of how the Intertubes works. Readers of Bach Seat know that undersea cables cross the globe connecting the continents. Despite a century of development cables are still subject to the same threats the first transatlantic cables faced in 1900.

The Internet remains a relatively fragile thing according to Catchpoint. They report that the Internet can be brought down by as a little as an old woman with a hacksaw. Squirrels and bears have been known to wreak havoc with fiber optic cables as well.

The article says that Internet users in Vietnam have recently been suffering through slow and intermittent connections for months now without any explanation of the cause. The cause was not a government tapping the underwater fiber, it was just a dangerous – SHARKS.

 

 

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| February 26, 2013
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Cables Carrying Fake UL Marks

Cables Carrying Fake UL MarksUnderwriters Laboratories recently warned that two communications cable products carried “counterfeit UL marks.” Neither cable has been evaluated by the laboratory for safety. In addition, UL claims that the two cables do not contain required flame-retardant elements, so they both pose fire hazards. The first warning regards a StarTech product while the second carries the brand name Monoprice.

StarTech communications cableBack in January Underwriters Laboratories (UL) issued a public notice that identified StarTech communications cable as being mislabeled. According to an article in Cabling Installation & Maintenance, UL stated that the cable, “bears a counterfeit UL Mark for the United States and may pose a fire hazard.” The safety organization states, “The communications cable has not been evaluated by UL to the appropriate standard for safety in the United States, and is not authorized to bear the UL mark or any reference to UL.”

Further, the notice states that the cable “is missing required flame retardant elements. This may cause an increased risk of fire.” The box bears the brand name StarTech and has the terms “ISO 9011,” “UL,” “ETL,” and “IECQ” printed on it. According to UL’s notice, the cable jacket includes the following: “CMR Type 4PR 24AWG 75C (UL) E151955-A CSA LL79189 ETL Verified TIA/EIA-568-B.2 CAT 5E UTP 350 MHZ Patch Cable B-8A1004 ROHS Compliant.” The UL alert says that the cable was sold at overstock.com and may have been sold at other locations.

In a February article at Cabling Installation & Maintenance, there is a similar problem with cable sold by Monoprice. The UL issued, an alert to the public that Monoprice cable uses the UL mark without authorization and lacks certain fire-retardant materials. The UL alert says this cable is known to be also sold at www.greenconnectionsusa.com

The Fiber Optic Association has a YouTube video that demonstrates the fire dangers of counterfeit communications cable.

The StarTech response to the UL warning shared with Cabling Installation & Maintenance seemed more concerned about their ISO certification than correcting the problem. StarTech issued the following statement on January 24: “StarTech.com has been an ISO 9001 registered company since 1998 and is currently certified as ISO 9001:2008 compliant. As such, we take this matter seriously and have issued an internal corrective action report (CAR) and are investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident. Based on the outcome of our investigation, appropriate action will be taken.”

Unbeknownst to usMonoprice’s response to Cabling Installation & Maintenance came from company rep. Chris Apland. The firm claimed they did not know about the misleading and dangerous cat 5 cables. He claims they did not know what their vendor was doing. “Unbeknownst to us at the time, Monoprice’s former vendor for the product in question was inappropriately labeling our product certifications.”

He goes on to claim the firm is sorry and has changed its ways. “Monoprice terminated our relationship with the vendor in question … We apologize to both UL and to our customers for any confusion this may have caused.” Mr. Apland added in the firm’s response that Monoprice’s “new vendor provides a higher quality Cat 6 bulk cable that includes the critical fire-retardant material called for in the UL complaint … we have since been in contact with UL through our China office…”

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In order to prevent safety problems on your job site, the Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (CCCA) recommends the best practice is to buy proven quality, name-brand cables and patch cords for known vendors.

Other recommendations include:

  1. Check for the UL holographic label on all boxes or reels of cable.
  2. Verify the UL mark and cable type on the cable jacket.
  3. Consult the UL online certifications directory to find if the manufacturer has a UL listing via the UL file number (the E number).
  4. Verify the authorized UL marks and correct terminology appear in cable specifications (cut sheets)
  5. Weigh the box of cable. Substantially less weight may indicate non-compliant copper clad aluminum (CCA) conductors were used in place of solid copper

The CCCA has developed the Cable Check™ App to help check these best practices. Download the app from Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes to detect cables carrying fake UL marks on your job.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: low voltage | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
| July 5, 2008
Comments Off on Converting from Centrex to a PBX

Converting from Centrex to a PBX

Converting from Centrex to a PBXSomething to be aware of as you plan a migration from Centrex to PBX or VoIP. There is a potential that if the customer does not use the phone system that the LEC sells, the LEC may charge the customer for the in-house wiring.  There have been cases where the LEC was seeking over $100,000 for the wiring after the customer switched.

Cable plant

In some areas, regulators have allowed the LEC to carry some OSP (Outside Plant Cables) on the regulated side of the books so some projected accounting value minus the depreciation would need to be recovered by the LEC if the customer were to leave the LEC. OSP has a life expectancy of 25 years or more, especially in environmentally protected locations such as equipment rooms.

A general rule of thumb is if the cable is black jacketed it is OSP. If the cable is gray or beige it is Inside Wire or cable such as riser. In some states, at the time of the ATT break up and thereafter black jacketed cable is still carried on the LEC’s books while the gray jacket is expensed. However, the customer should talk to the LEC OSPE (Outside Plant Engineer) as soon as possible to determine your specific situation.

The OSPE may want the customer to buy the risers and black jacket, which may include a 50-year-old black jacket, a mixture of Paper & Lead (a method of insulating conductors using paper pulp and covering in a lead jacket) as well as more current PIC (Plastic Insulated Cable).

An option would be to rebuild the complex. This option could be less expensive and easier than negotiating with the OSPE to take over 50 years of infrastructure.  Infrastructure which will never support any modern high-speed services.

Rebuilding the infrastructure also provides an opportunity to turn the tables on the LEC. With their own infrastructure, it is possible for the Owner to tell the LEC to vacate the building since they no longer provide service beyond the MDF. Maybe this is your opportunity to link the buildings with fiber and replace older copper while it is in good shape (having been inside most of its life).

Another tactic would be to convince the Telco into certifying that they had “abandoned the cable in place.” If the LEC has installed the infrastructure, and if they want to claim ownership of the cable then they would be responsible for removing the cable as is required by state/local building codes. In many areas, if a cable is not terminated on both ends then it is considered to be abandoned and must be removed. Removing cable is almost as expensive as installing it.

PBX Circuit sales

Another advantage Owners may have is that the LEC is the Centrex provider. A PBX deployment still represents an opportunity for DS-1, DS-3, and trunks sale. Another lever would be to keep a small Centrex as a backup, as part of a business continuity plan as well as ISDN services to remote locations.

One consideration is that when taking over the cable plant the LEC will have to deal with the fact that there may be customers within the facilities that were not part of the enterprise and which were customers of the LEC. We ended up having to sign a “Shared Sheath” or condominium agreement with the owner. The condominium agreement will let the LEC support their customers on the Owners riser system. The Owner will have to provide a technician to help the LEC in mapping out cable pathways for their customers.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| April 27, 2007
Comments Off on Low Voltage Cable Costs Rising

Low Voltage Cable Costs Rising

Updated – 03-05-08 – Military tensions in South America are driving the costs of copper and oil up even more.

Low Voltage Cable Costs RisingLast year, there was a large jump in copper telecom cable costs as manufacturers passed along raw material price increases in copper and petroleum. These price increases have affected all wire and cable products including plenum and non-plenum products; Cat 3, Cat 5e, Cat 6, Cat 6a, multi-pair cables, outside plant cables, and all low voltage electronic wire. Despite a market correction at the end of 2006, copper and petroleum prices used to manufacture cable are headed up again-meaning copper telecom cable will be following suit soon.

[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]The fundamental cause for increasing copper telecom cables is the continuing global demand for copper and petroleum. China and Asia lead the demand for Copper. The U.S. demand is for copper is down due to the collapsing housing market, however, if the U.S. housing market ever takes off again, more demand pressure will drive copper prices higher.

China which is the world’s largest consumer of copper accounting for 20% of the world’s supply imported 61% more copper in March 2007 than in March of 2006. The U.S. consumes 13% of the world’s copper. Demand for copper has reduced the worldwide supply of available copper to less than four days of global use.

[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]The upward pressure on copper telecom cables will follow technological globalization. The per capita demand for copper rises as GDP per capita rises. BaseMetals.com indicates that Japan consumes around 12kg per capita, North America consumers around 10kg per capita, and Europe around 9kg per capita. The large populations of China, India, Eastern Europe and South America are consuming less than 2kg per capita.

WTI crude oil pricesIn addition to copper price pressure, the cost of oil also impacts telecom cable prices. George Bush’s war in Iraq and declining world oil production have led to price increases in gasoline and petrochemicals such as PVC resins and polyethylene which are derivatives of crude oil and used in the manufacture of telecom cables. Escalating crude oil prices have also increased transportation costs leading to increased freight charges and other transportation costs across the value chain.

The dual price pressures of copper and petroleum will continue to push up the cost of all cabling.

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  • BT denies it is sitting on a ‘copper mine’ worth £50bn (telegraph.co.uk)

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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